Tales of Silencia
by Aemiz
Summary: Silence says more than words ever could. Since that fateful day 14 years ago, Lloyd's fraternal twin sister Sara has been living in complete silence and isolation from the outside world on Derris-Kharlan. This is her story. Non-Cruxis fic, OC.
1. Allegiance

_**Recently I've been playing my personal all time favorite game, Final Fantasy IX, and I decided to recycle one of the important plot lines into a ToS fanfic. So that's where I came up with the idea for this.**_

_**Just a side note: In order to make Sara's condition seem more realistic, I'm going to avoid using thought italics on her as much as possible. I want her to be able to communicate primarily though facial expressions and body movements, and leave most of her thoughts up to your own interpretation. Because let's face it, if she processes all her emotions in her mind so that the readers can see what she's thinking, it won't be much different from putting quotation marks as if she were speaking. :p**_

_**Kratos may be a little OoC in this chapter but I always imagined him to be at this point in his life.**_

_**Please excuse any typos or weird sentence error thingys. I'm pretty sure I've cleaned this through, but I transferred this chapter over from Microsoft Word and I notice that it can come out buggy at times for whatever reason.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters in this story except Sara. If I did, there would be more Yuan and more Kratos/Lloyd father son FLUFF! :D**_

_**And now that I've chewed your ear off enough, please enjoy!**_

_**- Aemiz**_

* * *

Dozens of fresh corpses piled up against the side of a steep cliff that towered over the forests of Iselia. The growing stench of blood and decay loomed up into the sky and crept its way through an intricate maze of trees and bushes, attracting a multitude of various creatures looking for food. If anyone had been travelling along the main road connecting Iselia to the sea, a half-elf or perhaps a dwarf, their sense of smell would have been completely captivated by the vulgar stench and might have led them to investigate the source of it.

As the last of the Desian corpses smashed against the rocky surface of the ground below, Kratos Aurion soon followed, landing gently on one knee with his majestic turquoise wings outstretched. His left hand was coiled into the shape of his fist, digging his nails into his own skin as it rested against the ground while his right arm extended away from his body as it trembled, clutching the hilt of his blade as if he were about to lose his grip.

The former Seraph slowly rose to his feet with his eyes downcast as he took one giant whiff of the intoxicating air. He winced as his heightened sense of smell absorbed the fragrance of decapitated corpses and twitched in irritation.

After reluctantly adjusting himself to the disturbing stench, his crimson eyes hesitantly wandered over the bodies lying beside his feet, afraid to face the horrifying sight of the mangled bodies of his wife and children; his beloved wife, Anna, and his precious children, Lloyd and Sara. They had fallen to their deaths just as the Desians lying beside his feet had. He knew that… didn't he?

By a thread of hope he had descended the cliff, frantic to find the family he knew he had taken for granted all these years;but as he continued to stand motionless in the same spot he had landed moments before, he felt himself lose the will to move. As he loosened the grip of his hand on the hilt of his blade, he felt himself lose the will to fight. And as his took in another whiff of the nearly tangible stench of death, he slowly began to lose the will to live.

_It's hopeless…_He thought to himself as he fell to his knees in anguish, staring down at the coarse ground as his clenching nails dug into the soil._ I have lost everything… Lloyd, Sara… Anna… They're gone. No…No! They might still be— _He rose to his feet, his heart racing as he mustered the courage he desperately needed to continue his search. _I…I have to see it with my own eyes! I have to..._

Kratos withdrew his majestic wings and sheathed his blade as he took a carious step forward, gradually gaining speed as he began his desperate search. At first he simply scanned the surrounding area for any sign of a woman and two small children, or perhaps his faithful protozoanwho had also become a victim. He perked his ears up to pick up any nearby sound, hoping to hear the whimpering cry of a child or Noishe calling to him.

_If there really is a goddess…_

"ANNA!!" He called out, his heart racing as he waited impatiently for an answer he knew he'd never get. He pierced her with his own sword; saw the blood rush out of her corpse as it disappeared into the mist below. There was simply no way she could be alive...

More time passed as he began to pick at the piles of corpses pressed against the side of the cliff, hoping to find the hemp of Lloyd's red shirt or one of Sara's brown boots. In his growing frustration he tossed the bodies aside with inhuman strength, flinging them into the woods or head first into nearby trees. He knew they were dead, but that didn't stop him from pretending they weren't as he felt the need to unleash his wrath.

"LLOYD!! Where are you!?" He called out once again, his fierce gaze wandering frantically in every direction; once again receiving no answer.

Eventually his anger dissolved back into hopelessness. He was covered from head to toe in the blood of the perpetrators who had pursued his family for several years; and now they were dead. Not all of them, but many. He killed them. He slaughtered every one he could find, but that did not bring him satisfaction. It didn't stop the pain. It didn't bring him any closer to finding his family.

_I've failed them. I wasn't strong enough. It's my fault entirely… I killed her. I killed my beloved Anna, who lost her mind and struck down my precious children amidst the chaos. My only son and daughter... It's my fault. It's MY FAULT!_

"SARA!!" He called out as he spun around to face the opposite direction, silencing his heavy breathing as he anxiously waited for a reply. He once again received no answer, but the faint sound of a gentle thump against the ground behind a group of bushes a few feet away immediately captured his attention.

As he turned his gaze towards the direction of the thump, he took note of the bushes leaning backwards in an awkward position as if someone had pressed their weight against them, or perhaps rolled over them. Taking each step forward with utmost care, his hand subconsciously found its way to the handle of his blade while the other carefully parted the bushes that blocked his view.

The pupils of his eyes dilated as he laid them upon the sight of his precious Sara's limp body. Her half-open, bloodshot amber eyes lethargically glanced at her father as she opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't. Kratos, too busy to notice, released the grip on the handle of his blade and ran to her side, sliding down to his knees. After staring down at her limp conditin for a moment, he gently began to cradle the back of her head in the palm of his hand and locked his gaze with hers.

"Oh, Sara…" He sighed a mixture of relief and concern. She was alive—fate had reunited him with his daughter, but what about his wife and son? He gently moved his free arm underneath her legs but froze as he saw her wince. His eyes scanned her legs as he removed his arm from underneath and gently applied pressure to her ankles, both of which she fidgeted in pain. "Humph… they may be broken." He murmured to himself as he relaxed the tension in his muscles.

Kratos's gentle gaze wandered from Sara's legs to her upper body as he noticed the sharp claws of his monstrous wife had left several scars across the child's stomach, leaving her shirt blood-soaked and torn. He carefully lifted her shirt to examine the wound, which was still bleeding a steady flow of blood and could possibly become infected if he didn't do something about it quickly. Desperate, he quickly tore off his own cape as he ripped it into a bind that he carefully fastened around her body, noticing that the blood began to seep through the bind itself. Tears began to roll down the child's face as the pressure of the bind pressed against her gaping wound, but she did not scream or make a sound of any kind.

"I know it hurts, but it'll keep your wound from becoming infected until we get you to a doctor." He cooed softly as he carefully fastened her shirt back in place, realizing the child was still too young to know what an infection meant.

"…" The auburn haired child who bore such a close resemblance to her father glanced up at him silently with a bewildered stare as his eyes wandered back to meet her gaze.

Meanwhile, a mysterious light began to float down from the sky, radiating a brilliant azure color as it silently landed a few feet away from the reunited father and child.

"Sara...? Don't you recognize me? It's me! It's _daddy_. Everything's going to be alright, I promise! I promise, I won't let you die…" He murmured softly, hesitating before sneaking his arm underneath her knees. _But why weren't you with Anna and Lloyd…?_

"You know as well as we do that the level of magitechnology on this side is too primitive to give her adequate medical attention." A piercing voice came from behind, followed by a snicker. "And going to Tethe'alla in your own condition would be unthinkable. Your mana is severely low."

"…Mithos." Kratos slowly shifted his gaze to the azure light that had transformed into the blond-haired Seraphim in his Yggdrasill form, his radiant rainbow wings keeping him afloat. Another light followed the leader of Cruxis down from 'heaven' revealing the blue-haired Seraphim, Yuan, who landed silently beside his superior and wandered over to Kratos's side, staring down at the dying child.

"…Her condition seems serious." Yuan murmured to himself and shifted a concerning glance at his human friend of four thousand years, who did not return the gesture but continued to stab daggers with his eyes at Yggdrasill.

"…I am aware of this." He answered coldly, his voice and hands simultaneously shaking. _I cannot lose her…_

"We can help her, Kratos..." The blond half-elf stared down at his former companion with a glint of desire in his eyes. "…this child of yours--"

"Sara." He answered quickly and began to raise the tone of his voice. "You offer your help after what you've done to us…? To me? To my family!?"

"Now, now; Kvar acted on his own completely. I'd never wish for your unhappiness as long as your allegiance lies with me. I would have accepted your family had you stayed a member of Cruxis."

"That's a lie!" Kratos snapped.

"Is it, Kratos? I am willing to save your _human _child, because she is yours. I would even allow her to live with you on Derris-Kharlan, and you would still have at least one of your own!" Yggdrasill added eagerly. "From the look on your face, I'd say you cannot find her twin brother or your wife anywhere. They're probably already dead and I'm more than certain that you're aware of this. After all, weren't you the one who dealt the finishing blade to that _monstrocity_...?"

"Grr…"

"It's a _miracle _even she survived." Yggdrasill added with a hint of sarcasm as his words became piercing daggers that shattered every ounce of hope the somber widower had left. "Do you want to be alone forever, knowing that your family died because you weren't strong enough to save them?"

_I wasn't… strong enough…? _He gritted his teeth, returning his gaze to his fading child as she rolled over on her side ever so slightly; pressing her face against her father's chest as she quietly listened to his soothing heartbeat.

"But there is a chance that… I-if I look around this area a bit more then--" The former Seraph added desperately, but was instantly cut off by Yuan who had stayed quiet throughout the whole discussion.

"Sara doesn't have that kind of time. And I doubt either of our healing spells could hold her off in her condition."

"…"

"Pledge allegiance to Cruxis and we can save her together! If we work together we can eventually save Martel! And someday, we'll save the world again, as well; but I cannot do this without you... my friend." His eyes adamantly lit up with hope.

"It's because I'm Origin's seal."

"I won't deny that, but it's not the only reason." He quickly saved himself. "Well, Kratos?"

"I..." It was now or never for the ancient Seraph. If he rejected Cruxis, he may be able to locate Anna and Lloyd... _if _they were still alive; but by going out of his way to search for them, he would inevitably prolong Sara's suffering and endanger her life. If he pledged his allegiance to Cruxis, he may be able to save the last remaining member of his beloved family; but he would be trapped within their grasp for the remainder of his eternal existance, and he would never be certain as to whether Anna and Lloyd ever made it out alive or not.

"Before you give us your answer, just remember that there is nothing left for you in this world. And if you stay, everything you see and do will remind you of th—."

"As long as you can save her life, I pledge my allegiance…" He cut Yggdrasill off as he dropped his head obediently while holding Sara in his arms. "…to Cruxis."

"And?"

"…And I will not betray your trust again, my Lord." Those simple words were all it took. His allegiance to Cruxis had been reinstated. He could no longer go back to his old life. If by some miracle Anna and Lloyd were alive, there was no way he could go back for them. He was trapped for good, an eternal slave in Cruxis, all for his daughter.

Yuan's intent gaze lifted from the now-unconscious Sara to her father, who looked as if he had lost all of his pride and dignity within a single moment that he had successfully maintained for thousands of years. He pitied his friend, moreover he was disappointed in him. Though when the half-elf's eyes drifted to his ancient companion's child resting peacefully in his arms, his hardened expression had softened a bit as his mind began to wander. If he had a family, the family he had always dreamed of having with Martel, would he have had the courage to make a sacrifice such as this?

"Excellent. You have chosen wisely." Lord Yggdrasill grinned with brimming excitement. "Yuan, take the child to the medical ward on Derris-Kharlan while I send someone to assist Kratos."

"…As you wish." The blue-haired Seraph scoffed after releasing himself from his thoughts. He slowly got down on one knee as Kratos returned his gaze to him, his bloodshot eyes filled with concern as he reluctantly entrusted his child to someone else. Thankfully, that someone else was Yuan and not Yggdrasill. Yuan nodded reassuringly at his friend as he gently pried the young child from her father, murmuring to him in a whisper. "Don't worry. I promise I won't leave her side as long as I have her in my care..."

* * *

**_Let me know what you think!_**

**_I've already written out all the ideas for this story so there shouldn't be any plot holes. If you notice something is off please kindly let me know, but chances are I've probably already addressed it in my rough draft._**


	2. Diagnosis

_**Thanks for the reviews!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters in this story except Sara. Namco owns.**_

_**- Aemiz**_

* * *

_The sounds of swords clashing and shrilling cries of pain echoed through the young child's mind. When her vision came into focus, she felt hot tears roll down her cheeks and the warm embrace of her mother's right arm attempting to sooth away her fears. She slowly glanced at her fraternal twin brother Lloyd being held in a similar embrace on the left side before diverting her attention back to a warrior garbed in purple with his back to them and his faithful protozoan at his side. The warrior, her father, gripped the azure hilt of a silver sword in his hands as he assumed a fighting position, ready for any of the soldiers charging towards him. Already several corpses of these soldiers lay motionless on the ground around his feet, and if she could even catch a small glimpse of the fierce look in her father's eye that intimidated the ones who still had their lives, she was certain that many of these soldiers knew they were charging toward their deaths. _

_In an instant she caught her father muttering something under his breath before shards of a blinding white light came raining down from the sky, disintegrating anything in its path. She was now truly petrified by this light and took the opportunity to bury her head in her mother's chest as her firm grip on the fabric of her mother's tunic tightened._

"_Mommy…" She muttered subconsciously._

"_Everything will be alright, Sara." Her mother gently pried her head from her chest as she stared into her child's bloodshot amber eyes with her identical ones. Sara noticed how the terrifying white light reflected beautifully off of the side of her mother's face and added a sparkle in her eyes that melted her anxiety away. She tugged at the sides of her lips and managed to smile as her mother did the same, probably seeing the same in her. "Just promise me one thing…"_

"_Mommy?"_

"_Promise me… that if something should happen to daddy and I, you'll take Lloyd and Noishe and make a run for it." She stared at her with an intent gaze before turning towards Lloyd who wore the same bewildered expression as his sister. "You too, Lloyd. Protect each other, please."_

"_Don't say that, Mommy! Nothing's going to—." She began to protest, but was cut off as she felt her mother forcefully pried from her grasp by a Desian soldier. The soldier quickly kicked the now screaming Sara onto her back while Lloyd fell out of his mother's arms and landed beside her. She turned towards her brother and helped him to his feet as she fearfully gripped his hand in hers. The soldier who pried them from their mother bound Anna's hands with his tight grasp while another soldier coming to his aide ran towards her and held the tip of his sword to her neck with his free hand reaching out for the strange blue gem embedded into her crest._

"_Mommy!" The twins called out fearfully, hoping to get their father's attention. Sara quickly glanced over her shoulder to see where her father was and noticed that he was still trying to fend off whatever came his way._

_Meanwhile, their father quickly glanced over his shoulder as he heard his children scream and knew he had to fight his way out of the chaos in order to reach them. He quickly turned his attention back towards the fight and deflected a swift jab from a soldier he had previously locked swords with before slamming him in the stomach with the hilt of his blade. The soldier collapsed to his knees as Noishe landed in front of his master, signaling for him to go and help his family. He nodded gratefully at his faithful companion and quickly bolted towards his family, striking down anything in his path. _

_As he drew closer and closer towards the scene of chaos that threatened to take away everything he loved dearly, Sara watched as her father's fierce crimson eyes dilated while his face looked upon his beloved in horror. When she turned back towards her mother, she watched the soldiers rip the strange gem out of her skin and toss her to the ground as her body began to morph._

_Their mother, who struggled to find her way onto her hands and knees, locked her eyes with those of her children, who stood there motionless and frightened at what she was becoming. Sara stared so intently into her mother's eyes as they winced and were eventually engulfed into the putrid green skin that had consumed the rest of her body._

_Her father soon reached their side, murmuring their mother's name to himself as Sara and Lloyd stared up at him helplessly, "Anna…"_

_Before she knew it, Sara caught herself staring into the single orange eye resting atop this monster's head. A flash of lightning blocked out a piece of her memory before her clouded vision once again subsided and revealed the monster roaring with fury, raising its arm before the child and bringing it down to strike her. _

_She cried out in pain as she felt herself flung backwards into the air, feeling the ripping sensation of its claws shredding the skin across her stomach. _

_Her vision began to subside as she felt herself fall down a long way, and black out completely before she even reached the bottom._

* * *

Sara awoke with a start, her tearing eyes struggling to see clearly as a bright fluorescent light from above met her gaze. She winced as she warily held her tiny arms over her eyes, blocking out the disturbing glow from penetrating her vision. It took her a moment or two to adjust to the light that reflected off of every corner of the room before she could clearly process her surroundings.

Sitting up ever so slightly, she writhed in pain as she tried to move her legs and lifted her gaze to stare at them, noticing how they were covered in a strange white bind. When she tried to move her feet within the bind, she let the tears fall steadily as she gritted her teeth from the immense surge of pain, though unable to scream the way she so desperately wanted too.

"Sara?" She heard an eager voice whisper from her bedside. She relaxed herself back into bed before shifting her head to the side, still holding her arms up to block out the light. The figure that sat beside her was not her father, but someone else she faintly recognized.

"You're awake… don't worry; you'll adjust to the light eventually." The voice sighed contently as the figure rose from her bedside. She reluctantly let her arms fall to her sides as she caught sight of the blue-haired man who had stayed with her while she slept. He stared down at her, gazing intently into her eyes with a look of uncertainty as he noticed the tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, "You were crying in your sleep; you still are. Are you alright?"

"..." The child opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't. By now her vision had completely adjusted and she recognized the man as her 'Uncle Yuan' as she smiled weakly at him, closing her mouth.

"You remember me…" The man answered awkwardly, not at all used to talking to children. _Though she's probably afraid of me… _"Why won't you say anything…? Is your throat sore?"

"…"

"Are you worried about your father?" Yuan folded his arms impatiently, noticing the expression on Sara's face light up eagerly. _Ah… so that's it. Of course._

"He's alright. He's resting…" He shifted uncomfortably as she sent him a questioning stare. _How am I going to explain to her that he was injured in the battle as well…?_

"…?"

"Uhhh… _Daddy _has some _boo-boo's _and they hurt _a lot _so he's resting." He murmured uncomfortably as he felt the flushing heat of embarrassment rush to his cheeks, hoping that Kratos and Mithos weren't around to hear him.

Sara paused for a moment to process the information Yuan had relayed to her, but quickly realized what he had been trying to say and threw the covers off of her, attempting to get out of bed. She didn't understand why she was here or what was going on, but all she knew was that she desperately wanted to see her father.

"Wait!" Yuan held his arms out, preventing her from leaving as he sent her a firm, authoritative glare. "You're still in critical condition! I cannot allow you to leave!"

She wasn't exactly sure what he had just said, but from looking at his arms and the intent gaze from his eyes she knew he wasn't about to let her go. It was not as if she could regardless, as her bound legs prevent her from moving. Realizing that she was trapped and was denied a chance to see her father, she began to lose her composure and did the one thing most three year-olds do when they don't get their way..

"Ah!! Oh no! Please don't—." Yuan quickly panicked, but stopped himself as he noticed only tears fall but no shrilling cry of any sort. _Huh. That's weird…_ "Alright, alright, don't cry." He sighed, rather annoyed, as she wiped the tears away with the edge of her sleeve and sniffled. "I'll bring _daddy_ to see you, but only if you promise to stay here."

She stared at him skeptically, wondering if he was truly being sincere; while he mirrored her expression with his own, unsure as to whether she would throw a tantrum or meet him halfway.

"Here…" He held out his coiled hand with his pinky finger sticking up. "Pinky swear?"

Sara glanced down at his hand and smiled subconsciously at the childish gesture, remembering how she used to pinky swear with her brother whenever they promised each other something; whether it was not to tell mommy who knocked down the vase, or whether they shared a secret exclusive to just the two of them. They had so much fun together and were the best of friends... her and her brother. Her Lloyd.

As she reached her hand out and laced her pinky with his, she felt her brightened expression falter once again, wondering where her brother was and why they weren't together. In fact, this had to be the first time in her entire life that she had woken up without her brother by her side, and she felt complete dismay upon realizing this. Yuan cocked his eyebrow with uncertainty at her faded expression and flinched as tears began to race down her cheeks once again.

"What is it now!?" He yelled impatiently and absent-mindedly, but suddenly regretted doing so as she lowered her head, cupping her face in her hands as the tears continued to fall. "…Damn it!" He swore to himself and rushed towards the door. When he reached the doorway of her room attached to the medical ward, he glanced over his shoulder and called out to her. "I'm getting _daddy_ right now, okay!?"

She lifted her gaze as he called out to her and nodded slowly, once again clearing away the remaining tears with the edge of her sleeve.

"Phew… Okay, stay!" He held out both hands and sent her a firm, authoritative glance as if he were speaking to a dog. She cocked her head to the side in question as he turned and left the room, bumping into Kratos on his way out. The older, taller Seraph stood motionless, towering over his old friend with his arms folded; obviously annoyed with what he just heard.

"She's not a dog, you know." He growled under his breath as he brushed past the equally annoyed looking Yuan. "And I would appreciate it if you kept the language to a minimum around her."

"…You're welcome." He grunted to himself as Kratos shut the door behind him.

Sara's eyes lit up as she saw her father approach, holding her arms out for him as he sat at her beside and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"You're alive…" He murmured to himself as she buried her head in his chest, tightly clutching her small fingernails into the fabric of his strange white clothing while he caressed her back. His tightly shut crimson eyes managed to open ever so slightly as he lovingly rested his head against hers. "Sara..."

"…"

"Aren't you happy to see me?" He weakly smiled as he pulled away to stare at her melancholy eyes. "…Sara?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but once again the words just wouldn't come out.

"She wouldn't speak to me, either." Yuan interrupted, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded subconsciously.

Kratos did not break his gaze with her as he lifted his fingers and pressed them against her neck while she attempted to speak. The instant he didn't feel a vibration of any sort, he stood up from her bedside and turned toward Yuan with the same desperate look he wore when he tried to save her life. "Call a doctor, immediately!"

* * *

"Say 'ahhh.'" The doctor, a lifeless angel, spoke in a monotone voice as it examined Sara's throat with a tiny flashlight and held its artificial fingers up to her neck.

"..." Sara quivered nervously and refused to budge. Why was this strange man pointing that _thing_ in her mouth? And why were there so many people in the room staring at her?

"Come on, now." It tried to coax her, this time noticing that she at least attempted to do so. "Hmm…"

Sara glanced fearfully from her father, standing anxiously beside the doctor, to her Uncle Yuan, with an equally concerned stare, and finally to the last bystander who had long blond hair standing by the doorway with his arms folded and a blank stare.

"She has indeed lost her voice." The doctor replied, resting the flashlight back in its case as he stared at Kratos with an emotionless expression.

"Because of what happened?" The blond-haired man asked rather shrewdly.

"Obviously, Mithos." Yuan retorted, earning a swift glare from his superior.

"I believe it is only temporary, but it may be months, even years before she can speak again. This is a very rare, yet serious illness brought about by trauma and grief." The doctor stated as-a-matter-of-factually. "The only known 'cure' for this illness is for the patient to come to terms with her grief. But she is also young, and there's a chance that this will leave her traumatized for the rest of her life. So the nature of her recovery is uncertain at this time."

"Sara…" Her father stared intently at her, taking her hands in his as he took the doctor's place at her bedside. She locked eyes with her father, noticing the serious look in his eyes and then glanced fearfully at everyone else; unsure of what was going on as they left the room one by one.

_Interesting… _Mithos, the last of the spectators to leave the room, thought to himself as he stared at the anxious-looking father and daughter from the doorway.

* * *

After Kratos left the room moments later, the three Seraphs and the doctor stood out in the hallway as they proceeded with their discussion.

"How is Sara going to come to terms with this? She's only three." Yuan broke the awkward silence, staring intently at the lifeless doctor for an answer.

"It's different for everyone." The doctor stated very simply, earning an unsatisfied look from his superiors.

"That's awfully vague, Doctor." Mithos and Yuan sighed simultaneously. "So there's nothing you can do?"

"No." He replied very simply. "My apologies, my Lord. There's a chance she may experience dreams about the incident, but..."

In a sudden burst of rage, Kratos's fist collided with the cement wall beside him and left an unmistakable fist shaped mark in its wake. Both Mithos and Yuan jumped at the sound and stared at him defensively.

_Anna and Lloyd are dead, Noishe's gone and Sara is…_

"This discussion is over." The angered Seraph allowed his numb hand to rest atop the hilt of his blade as he stormed past all of the lifeless angels who deigned to spare a glance, returning to the somber silence of his own room.


	3. To Love is to Lie

_**Numa-numa three!! Dodilodido. XD**_

…_**This is exactly why you shouldn't eat peanut M&M's and half a box of Dots at 1 AM. Oh but don't worry, this won't affect my writing. At least… I don't THINK it will. O.o; Be grateful! This took me six hours, two meals, a sugar high and three trips to the bathroom to complete. XD**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters featured in this story other than Sara. Namco owns the rest.**_

_**- Aemiz**_

* * *

"_Sara." A soft voice murmured through her memory. She recognized its owner immediately._

"_Mommy…" The little three year old self from her dreams replied._

"_Just promise me one thing." Her mother cooed softly as Sara's blurry gaze subsided to reveal her mother transforming into the monster that haunted her dreams._

"_Mommy!!" She cried out._

_Her mother, in the middle of her transformation, lifted her fading gaze to meet those of her children. Sara and her brother, a brother she barely remembered by now, stared intently into the eyes of their mother that were being sucked away into that all too familiar putrid green skin. How ironic that she slowly began to forget the face of her brother as every time she witnessed this dream she was allowed to witness more of the event, little by little. Her twin brother, of whom her father had spoken of on occasion… this 'Lloyd.'_

_With a last glimpse into the gentle amber eyes of her mother and the fearful look she wore when staring at her children's mirrored expressions, her mother mouthed the one word that Sara would never forget for the rest of her life…_

"…_Run!"_

* * *

Sara awoke with a start, as she often did these past seven years, with her eyes darting from side to side as she scanned the room for any sign of danger; not that there ever was. When she saw that the coast was clear, she lifted the long sleeve of her lavender nightgown to wipe away any stray tears from the night before.

Placing her arm back down at her side, she began to adjust her eyes to the darkness of her room before flipping the switch at her beside. The blinding light from the ceiling always disturbed her for reasons she couldn't explain, so she had a warmer, somber nightlight there for her whenever she needed to see her room. The dim light revealed a very simple looking room adjacent to her father's, with pale white walls and furniture fashioned to match the cold, lifeless atmosphere of Welgaia. There were several books written in the Angelic language on the shelf as well, as she could read and write fluently in the language. Despite that, several toys were scattered around the room to keep her from being completely isolated from her childhood.

The now ten year old child sat upright in bed and steadied her breathing as she allowed herself to fall back into reality. Tossing the covers off of her body she swung herself around to sit on her bedside, allowing her small legs to dangle off of the side as she was still too small to reach the bottom. They were gravely injured on that day seven years ago, but after several weeks in the medical ward she now despised going too, she had made a full recovery. Well, almost.

"Sara? Are you awake?" A knock came at the door.

Sara's expression brightened at the sound of her father's voice. She quickly tapped the knuckles of her hand against her nightstand twice, inviting him to come in; two knocks meant just that.

"Good, you're awake. How did you sleep?" He smiled as he entered the room, watching as she hopped off of bed and met him halfway into her room. She threw her head back in order to meet her father's gaze and hesitated before nodding with a smile.

"Are you lying?" Kratos's eyes narrowed a bit.

"…" She simply lowered her head shamefully. Even though she had no voice, it frustrated her that he could still see right through her even when she lied.

Her father sighed to himself and got down on one knee to meet at her eye-level, gently lifting her chin with his fingers to meet his gaze. "Sara, you have to tell me when you have those nightmares."

She sent him a bitter, questionable look. At this point, he could easily tell what she would say if she could simply by the animated expressions she possessed. He read this look all too easily as well and sent her a firm, authoritative glare in response.

"Because I'm your father and I have a right to know."

She softened her bitter expression after a moment or two and stared at him apologetically, running into his arms as her tiny ones clamped around his neck.

Kratos knelt there, taken back at first, but slowly warmed up to her as he embraced her gently. _Because I care about you…_

"Now…" He whispered in her ear as they pulled away, staring at each other. "Get dressed in something flexible. I have plans for you today."

She nodded eagerly but maintained composure as he rose to his feet and made his way out the door. "Meet me at the bridge in ten minutes."

When she heard the door close, she proceeded to run around her room excitedly, eager to spend time with her father other than when he tutored her.

After releasing that frustration, she proceeded to dig through her drawer of clothes as she vicariously flung them over her shoulder. She knew her father would scold her for the mess later, but at the moment this didn't phase her one bit. Eventually she pulled out a pair of gray fleece pants and a white tank top, tying an old pair of brown boots at her feet. Running over to her mirror, she quickly brushed her shoulder length auburn hair and tossed her brush the same way she tossed her clothes. She knew he would also scold her if she dare be late.

Sara stepped in front of the door as it mechanically opened for her, revealing the lifeless hallway that lead into the city streets. Though, Welgaia wasn't much of a city without any daily life activity. She proceeded down the hallway and eventually walked straight into the blinding pale light that illuminated the city. She was beginning to think that she was the only one bothered by it, as neither her 'Uncle' Seraphs nor the lifeless angels ever flinched from its piercing glow.

When she stepped out into the city street, she immediately collided with someone and fell on her backside while the other person stumbled a bit. "What the—!? Oh, it's you…"

Sara glanced up at the person as her eyes adjusted to the light to reveal her Uncle Yggdrasill in his adult form, staring down at her with an annoyed expression. Unlike when she was with Uncle Yuan, who was usually away on business, she always felt tense and nervous around him. He managed to tug the sides of his lips into an awkward smile as he watched her warily rise to her feet and bow to him obediently.

"It's good to see you know your place." He sneered as she rose from her bow, though continued to stare down at her feet.

"Don't be nervous around me, child. I'm not a _bad_ person." He murmured in a soothing voice as he got down on one knee to meet her at eye level. "I know we don't get to see each other very often but ruling the two worlds is a lot of work. And finding a compatible body for your Aunt Martel is also quite time consuming."

"…" This always happened every time she ran into him, and she also knew that her father didn't like it when he preached to her about his ideals like a broken record; so she did the only thing she could think of in order to weasel her way out of a lecture—smile and nod. And he _always_ fell for it.

"Good. Well, you shouldn't keep your father waiting." He rose to his feet as she lifted her gaze and nodded quickly, running past him before he could say anymore.

"Hmph." He glanced over his shoulder with an offended stare as he watched her run down the street in a hurry.

* * *

"You're late." Her father stood on the bridge connecting Welgaia to the teleporter that led to Castle Yggdrasill, with his arms folded and his back facing his out-of-breath daughter.

She lowered her head apologetically as he turned to face her. By the time she curiously lifted her gaze to meet his, she jumped at the sound of a metal clanking against the ground. Once again lowering her gaze to her feet, she bent over to pick up the small sword he had tossed on the ground.

"…?"

"It's time you learned. Come." Kratos stated very simply as he brushed past her, making his way toward the teleporter that leads to the heart of Derris-Kharlan.

She stared continued to stare down at the blade as if it were a foreign object to her and slowly grabbed the violet hilt, realizing just how heavy it was for her as she stumbled forward.

"You'll get used to it." Her father called back to her without even glancing over his shoulder. She glanced over her own shoulder at this and sent him a swift glare as she turned to follow him, dragging the blade behind her.

When they arrived at the heart of Derris-Kharlan, she glanced around fearfully at the ominous purple clouds which had engulfed the entire outer layer of the comet.

"You've never been here before, have you?" He glanced down at her and rested his hand on her shoulder, noticing her tension. She simply shook her head. "Don't be afraid. I would not dare pin you against one of the monsters here, but there's a lot of space here for us to train with each other."

Sara stared uncomfortably at the blade in her hands as she trailed behind her father. She continued to drag it behind her instead of holding up the way she was supposed to, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"If you drag the blade like that, you'll ruin the sharpness and the craftsmanship." Kratos scoffed. She began to stab daggers with her eyes into his back as she struggled to lift the blade. She cringed as she placed two hands on the hilt and lifted it up into the air a little too high, shifting her balance so that she fell over on her side with a thud.

Her father sighed to himself and stopped, turning around to watch her warily rise to her feet with an equally annoyed facial expression. He silently made his way over to her side and picked up the blade for her, walking on ahead as she shamefully trailed behind him.

When they arrived at a large stone platform suspended in midair, Kratos carefully surveyed the area for any fiends prowling around. Luckily for them at the moment, there were none. Satisfied with their location he turned towards Sara and gently handed her the blade, teaching her how to hold it properly. When he fastened her hands around the hilt, he took a step back as she seemed to hold it without any trouble.

"Good." He turned around with a satisfied smile. "Now, I think we should start by—." He stopped himself as he heard the sword clatter against the ground. He glanced over his shoulder at Sara, who wore a puzzled look on her face as she watched the blade fall out of her grasp. They met each other's gaze and stared at each other in an awkward sort of silence for several moments.

"…"

"…"

* * *

"Well, now that you can **hold **a blade..." Kratos scoffed bitterly to himself as Sara flushed with embarrassment. "...you can try swinging it now."

Sara nodded her head eagerly and grasped the violet hilt with both hands, swinging it back and forth repeatedly as she tried to hack away the invisible target in her mind.

"It's not a tennis racket, Sara." He chuckled to himself as she stopped abruptly, growing easily offended. "Try swinging in a diagonal line…" He suggested as he removed his own blade from its sheath and demonstrated for her. "…like this!"

She repeated his demonstration as accurately as she could but wound up losing her balance and falling once again on her side.

"Humph." He shook his head, sighing to himself as he wandered over to assist her.

* * *

At the end of a long day of training, Sara shook her head and threw the blade against the ground in frustration.

"That's enough. It was only your first day." Kratos reassured her as he watched her take a seat at the edge of the stone platform, staring at the ominous purple clouds in a flustered silence.

"…" She glanced over her shoulder and glared at him spitefully as if to say 'I couldn't even hold it!'

He chuckled to himself at her animated expression and wandered over to where she sat curled up in a ball, taking a seat beside her with one leg dangling and the other knee sitting upright. He glanced at her intense gaze into the cloud as she refused to look her father in the eye, ashamed of failing to live up to his expectations. It was the same intent gaze her mother wore whenever she became stubborn about something or felt anxious and determined.

"You have your mother's eyes, you know." He murmured to himself as she glanced at him hesitantly. It was strange for him to be saying this to her now, being that he never liked to talk about her mother very much. "I've always noticed. But you resemble me in several ways as well."

She shifted her gaze to his hand for a moment and slowly took it in hers. He glanced down at her gesture as she flipped his palm open and began to trace her finger against it as if she were writing something.

"'What… was mother… like?'" Kratos repeated out loud. She nodded eagerly, noticing him shift in his seat uncomfortably.

"She was very strong willed, naïve and stubborn to a fault." He added bluntly as he began to reminisce. "But she was also kind-hearted and loved you very much. She wanted to see you and your brother Lloyd grow up leading happy, peaceful lives..."

"…"

"You don't remember her, do you?" He stared at her intently as she began to write her response.

"'Just… her face… and her voice?' I see." He replied very simply as they fell into another awkward silence.

"…"

After a moment or so, she hesitantly began to write out something else. "'What… happened that day?' Why do you ask? I thought you knew from your dreams."

"'We never… talk about it.'" Kratos repeated slowly, sighing to himself. "I know…"

"…"

"...Your mother was part of an Exsphere experiment called the Angelus Project, led by Kvar. He's one of the Desian Grand Cardinals. You remember them from your studies about the state of the two worlds, correct?"

She nodded, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"The Desians were trying to grow a Cruxis Crystal inside of her body. To make a long story short, we met, fell in love and decided to run away together. I ran from Cruxis and she ran from the Desians, which is basically the same organization. And when you and Lloyd were born, you travelled with us from place to place."

Before he could continue, she yanked his hand over to her and started to write very quickly. 'If Cruxis and the Desians are the same organizatio—.'" Kratos fell silent as he read the rest to himself. When she finished writing, she stared at him intently for an explanation, "I'll get to that. Let me finish."

"…"

"We were in Sylvarant, on our way to see a dwarf living near Iselia who could put a key crest on An—your mother's Exsphere…" He stopped himself, realizing that she didn't refer to her mother by name. "…when we were ambushed by Kvar." He paused, than continued. "Noishe and I fought as hard as we could to protect the three of you, but we were overwhelmed and severely outnumbered."

Suddenly, memories of Sara's dreams came rushing back to her as he continued. She could once again picture herself as the frightened child in the arms of her mother watching the purple-garbed warrior, her father, and the protozoan Noishe fighting to protect them.

"Then a soldier grabbed your mother while another came and removed her Exsphere. The mana in her body went out of control and she…" He paused again, struggling to explain this to her as he tried to find the right words to do so. Kratos rarely lost his composure, and it had been several years now since Anna and Lloyd passed away, but retelling the story to someone else who had been affected by it as well brought back many nostalgic emotions. If not from the tears he refused to shed, it could be found in his crimson eyes that were fixated upon the ominous purple clouds surrounding them; those aging eyes wrought with guilt and suffering. "…she turned into a monster. She couldn't control herself and I… I was too late." He lowered his gaze in shame.

Sara gazed intently at her father with tears in her eyes as he refused to look at her. Of course she knew most of this already, but never had either of them discussed it with one another, and it was getting to be more emotional than she could bear.

"…And she tossed you off of the cliff." He murmured breathlessly.

She slowly took his hand, squeezing it for a moment before flipping it over to write, "'How did… mom die?'"

Kratos knew this question would arise. Somehow, someday, she would ask how exactly her mother died. He didn't want to tell her—he couldn't. He couldn't bear to tell her that he was a murderer. He quickly glanced into his daughter's curious eyes fearfully, his heart racing as she waited patiently for an answer. Now looking her in the eye was almost impossible for him—her curious, gentle amber eyes; her mother's eyes.

"S-she…" He nearly choked on his words. "She fell. She fell…off the cliff with Lloyd and Noishe." _Liar._

And Sara believed every word as she glanced back down at her hands as she rested them on her lap, also afraid to look her father in the eye. It must have been very difficult for him to tell her, and she suddenly felt guilty for even asking about it in the first place.

"I descended the cliff." He murmured. "And found you in the forest. You were…dying. Yggdrasill offered to help me save your life if I returned to Cruxis, so I did."

"'Why did… you leave in the first place?' Because…" He hesitated as she stared intently at him with eyes that begged for an answer. "…Mithos and I had conflicting ideals. That's all."

She nodded, leaving it at that, as she once again curled into a ball and stared intently at the purple clouds of Derris-Kharlan; though there was one question lingering on her mind, something she wanted to ask about so desperately, but she had pestered her father enough for one day and wasn't sure if she was in any position to ask.

"Are you wondering how I could stand working for the organization that was responsible for your mother's death?" He asked in a steady tone of voice, regaining his composure. She sharply turned to meet his gaze and nodded furiously.

"It was the only way I could save your life. You're all I have left… and I felt that it was the right decision." He stated very quickly, as if he was confirming it for himself.

Sara's anger melted away upon hearing those words. Now she felt guilty, if anything. It was her fault her father was here—trapped in Cruxis. She slowly took his hand again, but did not write anything. She clasped it with her own, looking him in the eye with an apologetic stare.

"It's not your fault!" He raised the tone of his voice.

"…" _Isn't it, though?_

"Sara. You're the one thing that gives my life meaning now. Do not forget that. If you had died as well then I…" He trailed off, refusing to finish that sentence. It was then that she realized just how much he really loved her. He had always been a good father to her and was very protective of her, especially around her 'Uncle' Seraphs. After all, he had always been there for her.

Sara shook her head and forced a smile. It was time to get off this subject. She stood up from where she sat with a determined look on her face, earning a skeptical stare from Kratos.

"What are you up to?"

She turned to him and prodded him to his feet, grabbing his hand once he found his balance as she began to write. "'I want… to grow strong for… mom, Lloyd and Noishe. Please train me?'"

"So you're willing to give training another shot?" He caught himself staring down at her with pride, noticing that she had the same fiery determination and stubborn nature that Anna had. He didn't have to hear her speak to know that; he could tell just by the glint in her eyes and the wry smirk she wore with pride.

"'Not with…that.'" She slipped her hands away and pointed at the sword lying on the ground nearby.

"Hmm… What did you have in mind, exactly?"

* * *

**_I'll only use the palm writing thing for really important conversations like this one. By the way, if my grammar sounds iffy to you, by all means please tell me how to correct it. Just ignore the grammar in my little author notes. XD Those mistakes don't count!_**

**_And lastly, if you're wondering why they didn't make Sara into a Cruxis angel, you'll find out in the next chapter. :) Toodles!_**


	4. Resolve

_**Thanks for being so patient with the first three. Now things are really going to get interesting. ;)**_

_**Please excuse the rapid progression of time in this chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, I'd have Kratos AND Zelos join my party in the end. :D And we'd see more of Zelos with his purdy orange wings. **_

_**- Aemiz**_

* * *

Yggdrasill waited patiently in his laboratory for the other Seraphim to arrive for their urgent meeting as he gazed longingly upon the sight of Martel's consciousness that had been trapped within this machine for thousands of years. He was so certain, as he always had been in previous years, that the next Chosen would not fail, but seven from Sylvarant and six from Tethe'alla had already failed to match her mana signature while the rest had either died or strayed somewhere along the journey. He was growing impatient. It was time to take drastic measures in order to save his sister. Even so, he would have to remain patient as the Chosen of Sylvarant was still much too young to receive the oracle.

_Everything I do is for you… Martel. I know it'll work this time. That's why I plan to--_

His thought process was abruptly interrupted by a flash of light appearing behind him, followed closely by another as Kratos, and Yuan revealed themselves. Yggdrasill slowly turned to meet their gaze and tugged at the sides of his lips to form a calculating smirk. The two lesser Seraphs glanced at each other suspiciously before turning back to meet his gaze.

"Good, you're all here."

"What's this about, Mithos?" Yuan murmured uncomfortably, eyeing Martel's consciousness over Yggdrasill's shoulder.

"I'll get to the point, then. I think it's time we add another to our ranks." He stated bluntly.

"Another Seraph?" Kratos murmured to himself as his arms stiffly folded together, not at all liking where this was going.

"Surely you don't mean Pronyma." Yuan added humorously.

"Of course not." Their superior snapped, growing offensive as he paused to regain composure. "…I was actually referring to Sara."

"Why?" Her father snapped quickly.

"Why else? She was raised in Derris-Kharlan and she's your daughter. Her lifespan, given that the angelic gene is dormant inside of her, is 80 years at best. You're over 4000 years old now, Kratos. Do you want to lose her in 60 years or so?"

Kratos glared furiously at his superior as he continued. He had taken into consideration that his daughter would probably age and die within a matter of decades; before he could finally be granted the eternal rest he had longed for—to be with Anna and Lloyd again. _Even so… it's more like he's trying to insure that my loyalties lie with Cruxis. Does he honestly think I'm that stupid?_

"You are training her in combat after all and she's fluent in the angelic language. She could be a great asset to our cause." He added, confident that they would see things his way.

"You're forgetting about Sara's condition." Yuan stepped in before Kratos could protest. "The doctor told us that the only way Sara's condition could possibly be cured is if she overcomes the trauma of the incident, and we've been relying on her reoccurring dreams to help her face her suffering and hope that she can come to terms with it. If we make her into a Cruxis angel, she'll refuse to sleep and may never overcome it."

"I concur." Her father sighed contently, thankful for his friend's intervention.

"You would let her live out her life suffering in her sleep?" The blond-haired Seraph started to grow impatient, determined to have things his way.

"Better than letting her live for eternity, suffering in her wake." Kratos shot back, struggling to retain his composure.

"There's no guarantee that she'll ever recover from the incident anyway." Yggdrasill scoffed bitterly.

"But I doubt she'd want to live like this forever." The blue-haired Seraph intervened again.

"Forget it, Mithos. As a Seraph, I disagree. And as a father, I won't allow it." Kratos answered firmly, sending his former companion a warning glare as he disappeared into a shaft of light.

"Kratos isn't stupid, you know. He saw right through you. Not that you weren't aware of that from the start." Yuan added before disappearing into an identical shaft of light.

"Humph." Yggdrasill growled under his breath as he turned to face Martel, reluctant to accept his own failure. _I guess it was foolish of me to expect my own teacher to fall for such a dirty trick. Well, it doesn't matter. I'll continue to spread my influence over the girl… And think of another way in the meantime._

"For my sister's sake…" He whispered to himself.

* * *

_Seven Years Later_

Sara Aurion, now seventeen years old, knelt against the ground panting heavily as she wiped the sweat on her forehead off with the edge of her cream-colored sleeve. She quickly glanced up at her adversary as he swiftly advanced towards her mercilessly as he attempted to spin kick her onto her back. She saw this coming and quickly rose to her feet as she performed a smooth back flip in order to dodge his attack, meanwhile slamming him in the jaw with the sole of her black boots. He stumbled backwards upon impact, wiping away the trickle of blood that fell down his chin as he swiftly landed before her, locking the bare muscles of his arms against her own. He was clearly a lot stronger than she was, but she also nearly matched him in speed, accuracy and evasion.

She stared her adversary in the eye as they locked arms, attempting the block each other's attack before they could strike one of their own. The pupils of her amber eyes dilated as she felt him slam harder against her arms as he went for a strike against her face, which was successfully blocked by her arms tightly crossed with each other.

"Good, but don't lose your guard in other plac—." She surprised him with an attempted swinging kick to his side as she ignored the lecture, which he caught on before her leg could strike. He held her leg in place, swinging her over on her side in order to pin her on the ground. She managed to deal another blow to his jaw with her foot before falling onto her backside against the stone platform.

He quickly recovered from the blow and charged forward, attempting to strike the finishing blow before she had time to recover from the fall. She noticed him closing in out of the corner of her eye and quickly unleashed the power of the turquoise Exsphere attached to her hand. Her body began to glow as she jumped to her feet and leaned all the way backwards so that her hands touched the ground as she dodged his blow, lifting her legs to smack his hands away.

Her adversary also wore an Exsphere, but refused to unleash its power in training. They both knew that if he did, she'd be completely annihilated within a matter of seconds.

He quickly surprised her by kicking her onto her stomach as her legs swung in the air, pinning her against the ground victoriously with his foot pressing gently against the padded armor covering her back. When she knew the fight was over, the fiery glow that had engulfed her body began to diminish.

"Enough." He murmured, removing his leg as she winced in pain and slowly found her way on her hands and knee before warily rising to her feet. "You did well today, though you shouldn't rely on using your feet as much as your fists."

Sara turned towards her father, nodding obediently with a smirk as she massaged her sore wrists.

"...I've been assigned to a new mission, so you can work on it while I'm gone. I may be away for some time." Kratos added hesitantly, earning a questionable stare from his daughter. "Lord Yggdrasill has arranged for me to accompany the Chosen of Sylvarant, the declining world, on the Journey of Regeneration."

"…?"

"I requested your assistance but… he wouldn't allow it. Why?" He asked rhetorically, reading her offended facial expression. "After discussing it, we both came to an agreement that it would be better if you didn't accompany me on the journey. I have to devote all of my attention to ensuring that the Chosen is kept safe from harms way and completes the journey successfully so that she can be reborn as Martel. If something were to happen to you or if I had to make a decision between your life and hers at a critical moment… obviously I would choose to save you. That's why you're forbidden to accompany me."

Sara flushed with anger, obviously offended over the whole ordeal. She was a strong martial artist; not nearly as good as her father, but definitely a force to be reckoned with. But more importantly, Sylvarant is where she was born and had spent the first three years of her life. She had always wanted to see it again with her own eyes. And she had also waited patiently for several years to be given the opportunity to go on an important mission with her father. She also resented the fact that he would dare to leave her alone in Derris-Kharlan with Mithos and his lifeless angels for Martel knows how long.

"I know that by now you're strong enough to take care of yourself but… I can't risk losing you or the Chosen." He murmured softly, watching her reluctantly admit defeat as shot him an icy glare and sighed to herself.

"My decision is final. I'll be leaving tomorrow if you chose to see me off." He added coldly, refusing to tolerate her attitude. She felt as though she wanted to scream—if she could, that is. Instead she furiously stormed off to her room as he father silently watched her do so, equally irritated.

* * *

Several days had passed since her father left to begin his mission. She hadn't said goodbye. She had actually taken it upon herself to avoid him for the rest of that day, either training on her own or locked up in her room, sprawled across her bed with nothing to do. At the moment, this is exactly what she was doing. She turned over on her side, glaring at the plastered white walls of her room as she tried to figure out what to do with herself.

She felt useless and alone without her father, the only person she really had in her life that she could rely on. Sure Uncle Yuan would stop by now and then, but he was usually never around. Not that she could blame him.

Deciding that doing the homework her father had left for her while he was gone was completely out of the question, she peeled herself off from her bed and decided to change out of her Cruxis clothes and into something more casual, flexible and easy to train in. She usually wore them around to fit in with the lifeless angels, but knew that she would never belong here regardless.

Reaching into her drawers, she picked out a pair of brown cargo capris, a gold-colored tank top, a short black hooded sweater that only covered her bust with elbow length sleeves and a zipper going down the center and a pair of dark grey fingerless gloves with iron knuckles attached. She also slipped on a pair of short black boots and brushed her straight shoulder length auburn hair behind her ears. Satisfied, she walked out of her room and strolled down the hallway toward the city streets.

As she made her way down the corridor, she stopped herself from walking upon hearing the sound of two voices conversing with one another. Not that the lifeless angels couldn't speak, but these voices were much more animated and lifelike; and she recognized them immediately.

"So, you convinced Lord Kratos to leave his daughter alone here for you to babysit while he assists the Chosen? How crafty! Well, it's probably for the better anyway…" The voice she recognized as Pronyma announced, as full of herself as she had always been. By now, Sara had pressed herself against the wall, listening intently. "…if Kratos betrays us again, we have his _pathetic_, _mute, inferior_being of a daughter as a hostage. She's unknowingly proved herself to be quite an asset to Cr—."

"Silence!" Yggdrasill hissed in a whisper, cutting her off. "How dare you speak so freely here! What if she heard you say such a thing? You could put my entire plan in jeopardy!"

"M-my apologies, Lord Yggdrasill!" She cowered in fear. "Forgive me for speaking out of line."

"Stupid woman..." He muttered to himself.

Sara stood motionless against the wall processing what she had just heard, afraid to move or even breathe for that matter. As she heard their voices fade away into the distance she ran back down the corridor and ran through the door she thought was the one that lead to her room. After all, all of the doors in Welgaia were completely identical.

Upon entering the room, she flipped the switch and glanced around, noticing that something was off. Then it hit her: she had accidentally stumbled into her father's room. It was slightly more lavish then her own, with hand-crafted wooden furniture and a crimson bedspread that gave the room a warm, sensual feeling. Not that her father ever needed sleep, mind you.

As she turned to leave, a scroll of parchment on his desk caught her eye. It seemed to be very old, almost as ancient as he was. She carefully made her way over to the desk and hesitantly opened the scroll, revealing a detailed map of the declining world of Sylvarant including the locations to all of the seals and Desian ranches.

She grinned excitedly at the newfound discovery, and it was then that she realized what is was that she needed to do.


	5. Sunlight

_**Thanks for all of the reviews and encouragement. It really helps! **_

_**Please enjoy. (A/N: Because Sara is mainly on her own in this chapter, I may use some thought italics for her.)**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters in this story other than Sara. If I did, the Kratos battle in the Torent Forest wouldn't have been so easy. ;) Namco owns the rest!**_

* * *

Sara Aurion scurried her way through the lifeless city streets of Welgaia, carrying nothing on her but the ancient map she had stumbled upon in her father's room in her hands. It didn't matter to her whether the lifeless angels saw her or not, as they would not even try to stop her unless instructed to do so; and by the time Yggdrasill ever found out about her escape, she would be long gone. Of course, she was also worried about what her father would say when they met up with each other.

Her heart raced furiously with both excitement and fear as she passed over the bridge connecting to the eastern side of the city. So far, so good. She stopped for a moment after crossing it to catch her breath and survey the area for any sign of Pronyma and Yggdrasill, if they hadn't already gone back to his castle.

When the coast was clear, she nervously bit the underside of her lip and paused for a moment before hesitantly moving forward. It had just occurred to her that she knew nothing about Sylvarant. How would she convince the Chosen's group to let her accompany them? How could she possibly find them on a world she has possesses no common knowledge about? And it would be a lot harder for her, a girl with no voice, to get by without it.

She shook her head and lifted the rolled up map in her hands to meet her gaze. She had to trust in herself, believe that things would work themselves out and rely on the hope that her father would help her adjust to life there…

…_if_ she could find him.

It was pointless to think about that now. She had to get out of here, and fast. She once again tapped into her excitement and enthusiastically preceded forward, her auburn hair swishing to and fro as she bounced along.

In the heart of the eastern side of the city was an emergency exit transporter that sent its users to any one of the two Towers of Salvation as long as it appeared in that world at the time. She would figure out what to do from there. Escaping would most likely be the easiest part, and the security around the exit was usually lax unless an intruder had found its way into the city. And even if they had managed to get out of the city through the emergency exit, they would be redirected to a maze that was nearly impossible to escape from.

Luck was on her side when she discovered that there were no guards stationed there today. She took advantage of the situation and ran over to the outdated computer connected to the exit to input her location as soon as she stuffed the ancient map in her pocket.

"**Welcome to the Welgaia Emergency Exit transportation device."** The computer spoke in a strongly audible, monotone voice as soon as she pressed the Power button. She glanced around fearfully, hoping that no one would hear it as it continued. **"Currently, both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla are available for visiting. If in the event that one of the worlds is—."**

She was fed up with listening to the piece of scrap metal any longer. She quickly pressed the Sylvarant button on the touch screen and glanced at the transporter as it activated out of the corner of her eye.

"**Thank you. Please board the transporter in an orderly fashion and have a safe journey. You will now be redirected to Sylvarant's Tower of Salvation."**

She grinned enthusiastically as she ran over and hopped onto the transporter. This was way easier than she could ever have imagined. She waited impatiently for the device to beam her away as she took one last look at the lifeless city she was raised in; athough she was too excited to be swayed by memories.

"**Error. Error. Error. Error. Location invalid. Error. Error. Error. Error…"**

Sara's heart raced at the sound as the emergency red light that flashed in the surrounding area, terrified that she would be captured, while the malfunctioning computer continued to repeat itself over and over. She stared intently at it as smoke began to creep its way through the keys of the keyboard and the back of the machine while a series of electric shocks radiated around the device.

She silently sighed and was just about to remove herself from the device when the transporter suddenly activated and swept her away from Welgaia in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Sara landed clumsily on her backside as soon as the beam of light that had carried her away from Welgaia disappeared. She winced as she moved her hand to rub the soreness of her back while moving her free arm to shield her eyes from the blinding sun. She had landed on something scratchy and dry, attaching itself to the sweat on her hands as she removed her hand from her back and cupped the strange substance in the palm of her hand.

_Could this be… sand? Yes, it's coarse and dry, just like Father taught me. Then, this must be…a desert?_

She silently watched the grains of sand fall out of the creases of her coiled fist like an hourglass before warily rising to her feet. She took a step back, trying to find her balance on this unsteady ground, as her feet slowly sank into the sand. She moved her gaze from the sand on the ground to the blue sky above as she gazed upon it for the first time in fourteen years. Had she really been that sheltered? Nevertheless, it was amazing. If the temperature and sunlight hadn't been so brutal, she would have stayed for a little while longer to gaze upon it.

_It's so bright… and hot. Is this really Sylvarant…? _

Sara glanced forward, admiring the vast sand dunes scattered across the distance in almost every direction, but when she glanced to the right she noticed a peculiar structure in the distance surrounded by a mountain range. Perhaps a village or a castle?

…_Let me check the map._

She quickly stuffed her hands into her pockets and pulled out the folded map to see where she was and what was near. After unfolding it gently to preserve it, she began to trace her finger against the coarse parchment until she noticed a wide expanse of desert on a continent located in the southwestern portion of the world. In bold letters across the expansive desert read the words 'Triet.' It was very far from the Tower of Salvation, located at the center of the world.

She continued to trace her finger around the desert region known as Triet when she stumbled upon the location of the first seal. Could her father be there by now? She had to see for herself. It was located in the southeastern corner of the desert, but where was she? Could that structure in the distance be it?

_Let's see… was it, rises in the East and sets in the West? Or rises in the West and sets in the East? _She thought to herself, studying the position of the sun. It was useless. She hadn't seen sunlight in years.

She decided to follow the only lead she had and proceeded forward. The mysterious structure wasn't that far off and she thought she could probably make it within the hour.

* * *

An hour passed and she was very close to the seal as she stumbled forward, on the verge of collapsing from dehydration. She previously had no idea she'd wind up in a desert and came extremely unprepared. She'd die for sure if the structure, which she eventually made out to be a ruined city, happened to be a mirage. Luckily her clothes were very light, but her exceedingly pale skin that hadn't seen sunlight in years was now completely covered in sweat and wore a reddish tinge as it burned from the merciless sun.

She took another wary step forward. She was so close that she could feel some stone from the city under her feet. If she could make it, maybe she could find an oasis nearby.

Another step forward; she was going to make it.

And another… and…

* * *

Sara twitched as she felt the rushing sensation of cold water dance against her lips. Was this a dream? She lethargically opened her eyes to make out five blurry figures looming above her, shielding her from the sun, and a canteen squirting water into her mouth.

She also heard voices, one of which belonged to a girl opposite of her. "Is she going to be alright, Professor?"

"She's waking up." The woman at her side, the 'Professor,' replied softly.

"…?"

"Hey, are you alright?" A boy in clothes she could make out to be red standing beside the girl asked her.

"I don't think she can hear us. She isn't saying anything!" A smaller boy standing beside the girl replied.

"Quiet." A familiar voice silenced the voices of the three children. The girl and the smaller boy obeyed, but the one in red seemed irritated by this. "Give her some room to breathe."

…_Father?_

"Are you alright?" The Professor asked as she noticed the girl's amber eyes flutter open.

Sara didn't reply, not that she could, but rather nodded her head as the man removed the canteen from her lips. She blushed at the sight of everyone staring down at her and lowered her face in embarrassment while wiping away droplets of water dripping from her mouth.

She glanced at everyone, particularly her father who knelt beside her and sent her a firm, authoritative glare as he shook his head when nobody was looking at him. By now they were experts at reading each other, and she quickly got the message not to mention their relationship to one another.

"What's your name?" The smaller boy asked, breaking the awkward silence.

She lowered her head in silence. From the time she was little, everyone she met understood her condition and knew how to communicate with her; but she was in a foreign world now, and would probably encounter a lot of unnecessary attention drawn to her because of it.

"Uhmm…hello? I asked you a question!" The smaller boy asked again, rather rudely, as the Professor stood up and smacked the boy across the head while Kratos sent him an offended glare.

Sara took her father's hand and began to write while everyone else just stared with interest, particularly the Professor.

"'Sara.' She says her name is Sara." He repeated out loud as she continued to write. "And she says that she can't speak, but she can hear us."

"How awful!" The blond-haired girl frowned, showing pure concern for a person she barely knew.

"What are you doing here in the desert, Sara?" The boy in red inquired.

"Yes, I'm curious about that as well." The Professor added.

"As am I." Kratos growled softly under his breath, earning questionable looks from his companions and a nervous smile from Sara. She began to hesitate as all eyes were on her now. She had to come up with something, and fast.

"'I was…looking for someone.'" Kratos repeated in a dull tone of voice. "Are you from around here, perhaps? Or do you hail from one of the cities such as Palmacosta or Luin?" He added, trying to help her out.

"'…Luin.'"

"That's quite a ways off." The Professor added suspiciously. "Why did you come to Triet so unprepared? You nearly died."

Sara froze. This woman was very sharp and she knew nothing about Sylvarant. Making up an excuse on her own now was completely out of the question. She glanced at her father, pleading for help.

"You look flushed. Were you pursued by bandits, perhaps?" He added, trying to remain calm as she could sense his nervousness as well.

"'…Yes. A group of bandits chased me. I fought them off but the ones who got away managed to steal my supplies.'"

"I see…" Kratos murmured softly.

"Well, at least you're okay! It's a good thing we found you." The boy in red grinned. He looked so… strangely familiar to her. She caught herself gazing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"What should we do now? Escort her to Triet Village?" The woman called the Professor suggested.

"That's almost day's journey from here going one way!" The smaller boy added. "And we just got here!"

"Well, she said she was a fighter and she's wearing a pair of gauntlets." The boy in red pointed out. "We should take her with us!"

"I agree with Lloyd." The girl replied enthusiastically.

_Wait… did she just say…?_

"I concur." Her father added, earning questionable looks from the party, especially the Professor. "Genis and Lloyd are right. We came all this way; we might as well take her with us… _for now_." He emphasized.

"As long as she's alright with it." The smaller boy apparently called Genis added.

Sara nodded her head eagerly and smiled.

"She doesn't look any older than Lloyd. Are you sure that's alright, Kratos? It's true, she's well equipped but what would her parents say if something happened to her?" The Professor intervened, uncomfortable with this new addition to the party.

"'My mother is dead… and I'm on a journey searching for my father. I have no other family.'" She wrote in Kratos's hand as he gazed at her intently.

"Well, in case you're wondering…" The Professor began with a sigh. "…we're the Chosen's group. And we're here because the Chosen needs to release the seal."

Sara didn't look surprised at all and the Professor seemed to take note of it.

"It's going to be very dangerous and a trial awaits us inside. If you can stand, would you be willing to fight?" Kratos added, trying to sound convincing to the others.

"'…Yes.'"

"Very well, then." The Professor added, not saying anymore about it.

"Alright! Just to make it official, then. Welcome to the group, Sara!" Lloyd added excitedly.

"'Thank you. Just one question, though. Which one of you is the Chosen?'" Sara added with a smile just before Kratos helped her to her feet.

"Oh, that's me!" The blond-haired girl replied with a smile. "My name's Colette."

Sara frowned sympathetically at her for a moment but quickly shook it off and turned towards everyone while they introduced themselves.

"I'm Genis."

"Kratos Aurion."

"My name is Raine Sage, but everyone refers to me as the Professor or simply Raine. Genis is my little brother."

"And I'm Lloyd Irving." Lloyd added with a grin. "We're all from Iselia, except for Kratos."

_Irving, huh? So then, there's no relation…_

"We should get moving." Kratos added stiffly as everyone nodded and walked on ahead.

Colette, Genis and Lloyd surrounded Sara, asking her a million questions as they went on their way. Raine was already way ahead of them, rushing toward the ruins at an alarming rate of speed. Kratos, meanwhile, lingered behind the rest, stabbing daggers with his eyes into Sara's back. Sara struggled to pretend not to notice as she grinned nervously at everything everyone said, not actually paying attention to what they were saying.

"This is going to be a nuisance." Kratos murmured to himself followed by a deep sigh.

"What is?" Lloyd asked cluelessly.

"Ah, nothing. Anyway, it would be a good idea for all of you to learn techniques to protect yourself."

"Are you talking about self-defense training?" Colette inquired.

"Something like that. Techniques to raise your defense in battles. I'll show you how it's done. Once you grasp the theory, the rest should be easy." He added, wandering over to the four of teenagers. "Sara, you're a martial artist, correct?"

Sara nodded. It was obvious to both of them.

"Then you should already have learned these techniques in training."

Of course she had. After all, he was the one who taught them to her. She nodded once again very simply.

"How do you know that?" Lloyd asked.

"It's vital for martial artists to build a balanced offense and defense." Genis added, all-knowingly.

"That's correct."

"Sweet! Show us how it's done!" Lloyd and Colette cheered excitedly, staring at Sara.

Sara noticed everyone stare at her and pointed to herself with a dumbfounded expression.

"Who else?" Genis laughed.

She shrugged it off with a carefree smile and got into a defensive position. A ball of light of a greenish hue suddenly appeared around her, shielding her from attacks for a few seconds as Kratos helped her demonstrate by gently hitting his sword against the shield.

"That was called **Damage Guard**."

"Awesome!" Lloyd cheered. "I want to learn it too!"

Kratos then proceeded to teach each of them how to use defensive techniques. Lloyd learned **Guardian**. Genis and, later on, Raine learned **Force Field**. Lastly, Colette learned **Damage Guard**.

"MARVELOUS!" Raine screeched with excitement as everyone stopped dead in their tracks, turning around to witness the horror that was Raine's ruin-mode.

"Oh, no…" Genis moaned, earning questionable stares from his companions.

"Look at this slab covering the entrance!! It's clearly of a different composition than the surrounding stone!" She cheered excitedly, kneeling against the ground as she carefully traced her fingers along the surface. "This must be polycarbonate, developed during the Ancient War to defend against magic! Oh, feel the smooth surface! It's wondrous!"

"…Is she always like this?" Kratos asked aloud, reading Sara's mind.

"Is she?" Lloyd asked.

"…And I was trying so hard to hide it, too." Genis lamented with a sigh.

"Hmm? This depression…it reads, 'oracle stone.' Colette, place your hand here!! That should reveal the entrance." Raine demanded desperately. "The magic in this stone is designed to identify the Chosen!"

"Oh, really?" She asked cluelessly, placing her hand on the stone just as Raine had instructed her to. In an instant, the door slowly crept open revealing a staircase that led into a dark tunnel. "Wow! It opened! I guess I really am the Chosen."

Everyone but Lloyd turned to Colette and stared at her helplessly.

"Yeah, I think we got that already." Genis added rudely, reading everyone else's minds aloud.

"Alright! Let's hurry up and go inside!" Lloyd announced enthusiastically, running ahead of everyone with the Professor.

"Lloyd, wait up!" Genis called after him, running to catch up with Colette.

Kratos sighed to himself in an irritated fashion, walking on ahead. Sara stood behind snickering to herself until her father caught her off guard.

"Don't think I've forgotten, young lady." He scolded under his breath, though loud enough for her to hear, as his fatherly instincts kicked in. "We're going to have a long talk about this later."

Sara glared at him as he disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel and silently sighed to herself, scratching the side of her head nervously as she reluctantly followed him inside.

* * *

**_No, I haven't forgotten about Noishe and a few other things. I'll get to it. Just didn't want to chew your ear off too long, eh? ;)_**

3:37 PM (7/9) Edited for a few tiny grammatical errors I missed in my first two run-throughs of the chapter.


	6. Promise

_**I realize the focus of the chapter is particularly on Raine and Sara but XD it's more for comedic intervention. If a character isn't getting that much attention, I'll do my best to make sure he/she does in the next chapters and so on.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters other than Sara. If I did, Yuan would join our party at least once in the game and have amazingly piss ass funny after-battle dialogue with the team.**_

* * *

"Hey, Sara?" Lloyd called out to her casually as the party wandered through the inner ruins of Triet, walking towards their first trial in silence.

Sara glanced up at him with a curious stare, as she had been trailing behind her father the entire way.

"That's an Ex—." He began, but was quickly interrupted by a screech from the Professor.

"MARVELOUS!!" Raine once again screeched with joy; attracting a multitude of pitiful and equally annoyed stares from her comrades. "The ruins on the inside are so well preserved! How intriguing that even after thousands of years and exposure to the—."

"Sis…" Genis whined softly.

"So, ignoring her for a minute, that's an Exsphere, right?" He quickly turned his attention back to Sara while Genis and Colette attempted to keep the Professor moving towards the trial. He then pointed to the turquoise gem attached to the back of her right hand. She nodded very simply. "Where did you get yours?"

She hesitated for a moment before grabbing his hand to write with, but was instantly startled at the familiar feel of it. She glanced up at him as she noticed him taken back by it as well. The same way their hands clasped in her dream… was it pure coincidence?

…_No. My Lloyd is dead._

"'My…father gave it to me.'" She smiled; and she wasn't lying this time either.

"Really? My mom gave me this one, before she died. I was too little to remember." He gestured a weaker smile as their hands parted.

Sara stared her potential brother in the eye intently after hearing this and than quickly glanced at her father, who had been staring at the two over his shoulder the entire time with a softened gaze.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?" Lloyd asked aloud, breaking her gaze. She caught herself feeling the heat of embarrassment rushing to her face and shook her head, turning away abruptly as she walked on ahead. "Okay…"

"We should get moving." Kratos announced after being silent the whole time, following the flushed Sara towards the entrance to the sealed room.

"Professor, let's go! Maybe we can come back after we face the trial." Colette suggested with an encouraging smile while Genis forcefully began yanking his sister by the arm.

"Yeah, Raine! C'mon!"

"But!!" She moaned, fighting her way out of her little brother's grasp. "I'm not finished studying it!"

After watching Sara leave with a clueless expression, Lloyd made his way over to his elven friend in order to assist him with the Professor. He quickly grabbed her free arm and began to help drag her away from the stone carvings on the wall with Genis. Colette followed close behind them, giggling happily.

Using the very peculiar Sorcerer's Ring to light the path to the sealed room, the teleporter sparkled radiantly once activated. Colette and Kratos boarded the teleporter first, followed by Genis and Raine and lastly Sara and Lloyd.

When they had arrived at the sealed room, a large altar situated at the far end of the room began to glow a fiery red hue.

"Get ready." Kratos called out, unsheathing his semi-blunt blade which Sara took note of as she stared at it skeptically; not that her father was stupid enough to bring his Flamberge on the journey. "Lloyd and Sara, assist me with physical attacks and don't charge forward until I give the word. Genis, this appears to be a monster possessing the power of fire so use ice magic against him. Chosen one, assist us with physical attacks from a safe distance behind our offensive line. And Raine, use your healing arts as quickly as you can."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Lloyd unsheathed his twin blades simultaneously; taking his place at Kratos's left side. Sara quickly coiled her fists and got into her fighting stance; taking her place at her father's right side. Colette stood readily with her chakram's, standing adjacent to the Professor who clutched her staff against her body. Lastly, Genis stood protectively in front of the Raine and Colette; kendama in hand.

When the Ktugach and Ktugachlings appeared before the party in a scorching ball of fire, everyone stood attentively, nervous about the outcome of the battle; everyone of course, except Lloyd.

"Hmph. He's nothing!" Lloyd boasted over-confidently.

"Isn't there anything but meat in that head of yours?" Kratos scolded his son with a sigh, glaring at him out of the corner of his eyes.

"Excuse me!?" The brunette swordsman lost his focus and mirrored a glare back to his superior.

"Focus, Lloyd!" The Professor barked at her student.

"Gah!!"

The Ktugachlings fell instantly at the touch of Genis's ice magic, which left the Ktugach severely outnumbered. Kratos and Lloyd continued to use moves such as **Demon Fang **in order to steer clear of the opponent's spiky exterior. This left Sara with the hard job of striking its vital points without getting stabbed. Colette assisted her by striking the Ktugach on its sensitive sides in order to distract it while Raine continued to cast a **Barrier **around both girls in particular.

When the adversary fell, everyone sighed with relief at the sight of no one possessing any serious injuries.

"See? Easy." Lloyd boasted once again.

"Wow, Lloyd, you're amazing!" Colette cheered, making the brunette swordsman turned away from her blushing.

"Pride often comes before the fall." Kratos sighed, clearly irritated by his son's cocky attitude. Genis, Raine and Sara simply shook their heads helplessly.

"That's Lloyd for you." The smaller half-elf smiled. Of course only Raine and Kratos knew that he and his sister were actually half-elves.

"Shut up! Stop ganging up on me!" He yelled offensively as everyone but Kratos started to laugh.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara caught sight of a bright light descending from the ceiling. She gently tugged on Colette's sleeve and pointed towards the light as Colette and the others caught sight of it.

Colette quickly descended the steps of the altar, tripping on the first step she came across. Everyone stared at her helplessly as she rose to her feet and reached the top of the altar as if nothing happened, beginning to pray as the light stopped its descent midway. "O Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the Earth, grant me thy strength!"

After a few moments, the light subsided to reveal the angel Remiel, who had descended from Cruxis to meet with the Chosen. Sara silently scoffed to herself and folded her arms as the angelic servant stared intently at Colette, ignoring the presence of the humans in the room. Clearly the two didn't get along. Like Pronyma, Remiel was a pathetic creature who had an apparent lust for power.

"You have done well reaching this far Colette, my beloved daughter." The angel began. Sara's tension grew by the minute. Colette's father!? Who was he kidding! Kratos noticed this immediately and shook his head in disapproval, staring daggers at his daughter from across the room to knock it off. Sara reluctantly sighed and obeyed, unfolding her arms as they fell loosely at her sides.

"Thank you… father." Colette repeated the formality hesitantly.

"In return for making it this far with the help of your companions, Cruxis sends its blessings and bestows upon you the power of the angels if you are willing to accept it."

"I humbly accept this task." She replied obediently.

"Very good. Now, receive of the power of the angels, in doing so of your own free will of course." He smirked, pleased with her decision as he raised his arms up towards the light from above. A series of colorful lights descended from the ceiling and flew into Colette's body, eventually causing a pair of magenta-colored wings to emerge from her back.

"Woah!!" Lloyd and Genis exclaimed simultaneously. "Colette has wings!"

"The angel transformation is not without pain, yet it is only for one night. Be strong and endure." Remiel nodded with reassurance as Colette forced a smile. "I shall await you at the next seal, which lies far to the east across the sea. Offer your prayers in that distant land."

And with that, the angel ascended towards the light from above and disappeared instantaneously.

"Wow, Colette! That's so cool!" Genis exclaimed, bouncing around happily. "Show us again!"

"Alright!" She replied enthusiastically, pulling her wings out as she fluttered them against the small boy's cheeks.

"So that Remiel guy said the next seal is across the sea, right!? That means we get to go on a boat! Oh man, I can't wait!" Lloyd cheered, also extremely enthusiastic.

"That doesn't mean we have to CROSS the sea!" Raine exclaimed nervously as all eyes fell on her. She hesitated at everyone's stare and faked a laugh. "W-what I mean is, it's on the continent _across_ the sea so that doesn't necessarily mean we have to _cross_ the sea! We could always take the bridge to the north and—."

"That's very far out of our way." Kratos intervened. "The route going across the sea is much quicker. We should find a boat along the coast and head to Palmacosta from there."

_The sea… I've never been to the sea before._ Sara thought to herself, turning away from the group as she began to daydream about the way her father had described it to her.

"Yeah, what Kratos said! Besides, crossing the seat on a boat is way more fun than some bridge." Lloyd added obnoxiously.

"Erm… I suppose." The Professor reluctantly agreed, turning away from the group as she began to daydream about the worst possible scenarios that could happen at sea.

"Well, let's get going everyone!" Lloyd announced, leading the group to the teleporter followed by Kratos, Colette and Genis.

Raine and Sara didn't notice them turn to leave as they continued to imagine what it would be like at sea. The four who went on ahead, seeing that they were missing two people, turned around to find their straggling companions out of touch with reality.

Sara looked as if she had fallen in love with a huge grin plastered across her face and her amber eyes sparkling with desire. The Professor on the other hand, looked as if she had seen a ghost as her face went pale with uncontrollable fear and her azure eyes motionlessly staring at the wall in front of her.

Colette, Lloyd, Genis and Kratos stared at each other and then back at the two, clueless about their behavior.

"Hello! Sylvarant to Raine and Sara!" Genis piped obnoxiously. "Get a grip you two!"

"GUYS!" Lloyd yelled, startling the two as they nearly jumped out of their skins.

"DON'T EAT ME!" Raine screamed, flinching as she coward to her knees in fear. Sara looked just as shocked and flustered as she did.

Everyone stared at the helplessly at the two, particularly Raine.

"Oh my…"

"You guys!"

"Geez."

"…"

* * *

The blazing sun beamed down upon the six companions as they exited the Triet Ruins. Everyone but Kratos placed their hands above their eyes to help adjust to the bright sunlight and winced at the rushing sensation of hot air against their skin. Although it was passed the midday mark by now, so the sun wouldn't feel as brutal as it had been before.

"Phew, it's hot!" Lloyd whined. "Man, I'm beat..."

"I'll second that…" Genis responded with a groan. "Though I don't think it's as bad as it was before."

"We should hurry and get back to town before dusk." Raine announced, leading the party along.

"Hey, something's coming this way!" Colette pointed out a creature with racing towards them. Everybody turned around alertly to see an all too familiar white and green creature on all fours with long, floppy ears racing towards them.

"It's Noishe! What's he doing here? I thought he hated places with monsters. He ran away like a coward before we ran into Sara." Lloyd blinked, watching the creature behave rather strangely as he advanced towards them at an alarming rate of speed. "Woah, boy! Slow down!"

The large protozoan zipped passed his master and the others and went straight for Sara, knocking her helplessly to the ground. The pupils of her eyes dilated as she was pinned in place, at the mercy of this large creature as he proceeded to repeatedly lick the side of her face while happily wagging his bushy tail.

"NOISHE!" Lloyd, Genis, Raine and Kratos yelled in unison.

"Aww, he likes you Sara!" Colette beamed happily.

Sara grinned happily, finally being reunited with the faithful protozoan who recognized her instantly, but attempted to push his muzzle away as he became a little too much to handle.

"What's gotten into you, boy!?" Lloyd came up beside the protozoan and pulled him away by the fur around his neck. "You nearly did the same thing when you saw Kratos for the first time!"

Kratos and Sara exchanged swift glances before she warily rose to her feet, wiping the protozoan's saliva off with the back of her hand.

"COLETTE!" Lloyd suddenly cried out as he saw the girl collapse out of the corner of his eye. He rushed over and knelt beside her with the Professor as everyone else gathered around them, looking to see if she was all right.

"Ahh…" She winced, clutching her sides as she felt a rush of pain run through her body. "I'm…fine. I'm sorry for making everyone worry."

"Fine!? Your face is completely white!" Genis retorted looking terrified that this was his fault entirely. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault! I kept making her pull her wings in and out."

"I don't think that has anything to do with it." Lloyd murmured softly.

"Quiet! Her lips are turning purple… we must get her to a doctor in the city immediately!" The Professor announced, trying to stay calm.

"Wait. It's best not to move her…" Kratos intervened as everyone glanced at him skeptically. "If what Remiel said is true, then this must be part of the angel transformation process. It would be asking a lot of the Chosen to carry her through this heat. We should set up camp here and have her wait it out for the night."

"Hmm… I suppose you're right." Raine reluctantly agreed.

"I'll help set up!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Me too!" Genis nodded in agreement. Sara nodded as well.

* * *

That night, the six companions sat in a circle around the crackling fire. Lloyd and Colette sat beside each other talking. Genis was leaning over the boiling stew he had been preparing, adding the finishing touches to the dish while Raine stood closely behind her little brother, pestering him to have her assist him with the task. Kratos sat beside Noishe, who was leaning against the Seraph snoring loudly.

Sara sat by herself, watching the smoke from the fire rise to the sky above. She had been also been occupying her time admiring the stars, enjoying her first night on Sylvarant in several years. She could faintly recall a time when she and her twin brother, along with their father, watched the stars together talking about this and that. Seeing them sparkle from Sylvarant was very different from watching them from space— at home on Derris-Kharlan. There weren't as many here, but it was still breathtaking nonetheless.

"Hey guys, we're running low on water. Can someone please go to the oasis and get some for me?" Genis interrupted the group, shifting his gaze from person to person.

Sara smiled and stood up from where she sat, nodding to the boy.

"Thanks, Sara!" Genis grinned. "I really appreciate it."

"Will you be alright by yourself?" Raine intervened with a pure look of concern. "The desert is still dangerous at night…"

"I'll go with her." Kratos spoke up, rather quickly. "It's not as if I have anything to do at the moment and there are already enough people here to protect the Chosen."

Sara glanced nervously at her father, realizing that he was truly serious about what he said earlier; not that she didn't expect her father to let something like this go. For all he knew, she could have caused an unnecessary amount of chaos during her escape, and he really didn't feel like getting a lecture from Mithos about it later.

"Thank you, Kratos." Raine nodded gratefully. "Dinner's almost ready so hurry back!"

"Isn't that my line, Raine? After all, I'm the one who's cooking." Genis stated obnoxiously, earning a smack from his older sister. "OW!"

"That's only because you won't let me help!" She protested.

"It's probably for the best if you don't." He murmured bluntly, earning an even harder smack this time around.

Sara and Kratos snickered as they walked passed the two bickering siblings and quietly left the campsite with buckets in their hands.

After leaving the campsite, Sara glanced down at her feet the entire time, sensing the tension coming from her father. He would naturally wait until they were far enough away from being heard or seen before interrogating her about the incident, probably as soon as they reached the oasis, which he did.

"Explain." He began sternly, setting his bucketa on the ground as he held his hand out for her to write with. His vision was so keen that he would be able the see what she wrote in the dark, and the full moon also added a bit of light as well.

So she proceeded to tell him about the incident. She told him everything: the conversation she overheard between Yggdrasill and Pronyma, the map she found in his room, the malfunctioning teleporter and finally, her journey through the desert.

When she was finished, Kratos pulled his hand away and picked up his buckets, walking ahead of her towards the oasis. She trailed behind him in silence, naturally curious about what was on his mind. She could faintly make out the angered glint in his eye and bit the underside of her lip. She was definitely more than six feet under at this point.

They gathered the water in silence. Sara glanced at her father from time to time but he refused to speak. It wasn't until they were on there way back that he had finally decided to break the silence.

"They really called you those things, didn't they?" He asked aloud, as if confirming it for himself while earning a questionable stare from his daughter.

"I'm talking about what Pronyma said; and then there's Yggdrasill, who probably feels the same way." He murmured softly.

She lowered her gaze to her feet as those hurtful words ran through her mind. She hadn't once thought about it that day, due to the excitement of the day's events, but now that it was on her mind she honestly felt really bad about the whole ordeal.

"You're not inferior…" He stopped walking abruptly, placing a free hand on her shoulder as she came to a stop as well. "I was once human as well. And Pronyma, as you know, has a mouth to match the size of her ego."

"…"

"I'm sorry I left you there alone with them." He matched her intent gaze as he looked her straight in the eye, looking just as hurt as she was. "At the time, I just didn't think I could protect you and the Chosen; but you're very capable and you're a great asset to our team. Seeing you fight alongside of us today confirmed that for me." He paused, noticing Sara smile a bit from his comment.

"I'm aware that Mithos didn't want you to get in the way of the journey, but I also think he wanted to forcefully feed his opinions down your throat while I was gone. I've mostly been by your side these past fourteen years, so he hasn't had much of a chance to do so. That's why he sent me and not Yuan."

"'Yes… he would pester me about it when I was a child sometimes when you were gone.'" She wrote into his hand.

"I know…" He sighed to himself, pushing the incident out of his mind for the moment. "Anyway, I'm just relieved that you made it here safely. It's rather fortunate that the machine malfunctioned and sent you here instead. The Tower of Salvation in Sylvarant is surrounded by an impregnable mountain range on once side and the ocean on another. You probably would have been trapped there for quite a while."

Sara nodded, also thankful that she wound up in a place that was close to where her father was.

"By the way, that map you have… would you let me hold onto it? If the others discover it, our cover will be blown." He added in a whisper. They were certainly far enough away from the camp that they would go unheard, but he was being cautious nonetheless. She casually reached into her pocket and pulled it out, handing it to him as he took it and stuffed it under his cape. "Thank you."

Kratos turned to walk on ahead towards the camp but stopped as Sara gently grabbed his arm, capturing his attention once more. "What is it?"

She hesitantly grabbed his hand and scribbled onto it. "'That Lloyd…is my brother, isn't he?'"

"…Yes. Not only did Noishe's presence confirm it for me, as it probably did for you, but…" He trailed off in mid-sentence.

"…?"

"Lloyd was discovered by a dwarf in Iselia named Dirk, whom your mother had entrusted him to before she died."

"'Mother survived the fall!?'"

"Yes… long enough to entrust Lloyd and Noishe to Dirk, it would seem. She's buried in the garden in back of their house." He murmured softly, turning his gaze away from his daughter's.

_Lloyd… my brother's alive! I've got to tell him!_

Sara dashed forward excitedly, but stopped short as Kratos effortlessly grabbed the hood of her short sleeved sweater and reeled her back towards him, causing her to stumble backwards. He quickly turned her around to stare him in the eye as he spoke very loud and clearly, "You must promise me not to tell him, no matter what."

Sara stared at him as if he had lost his mind. Why wouldn't he want his own son to know that his father was alive? It didn't make sense to her at all.

"Don't tell him, because I… can't be with him. Lloyd has a father. He doesn't need me." He spoke in a sharp whisper, but also spoke as if he were confirming it for himself. Sara shook her head, noticing that he was still gripping her hood, glancing fearfully from his hand to his gaze.

"Sara, please don't look at me like that. Just promise me this one thing. Please…" He looked her square in the eye with a look of desperation. She was taken back by his gesture, never having seen this side of him before now.

She nodded her head slowly, reluctantly agreeing to his promise.

"Thank you." He carefully removed his grip on her hood, quickly regaining his composure. "We should hurry back. They're probably wondering where we've gone."

They walked back to camp the rest of the way in silence. Now that she had time to think about what just happened, she began to understand why her father felt the way he did. And she had made a promise to him, one she would not easily break.

As they entered the vicinity of the campsite, their ears perked up at the sound of Genis saying something in a sing-song tone of voice. "Ha-ha! You got re-ject-ed!"

"SHUT UP, GENIS!" Lloyd's audible, irritated tone of voice penetrated through the campsite.

Sara and Kratos watched as the Chosen silently walked away from camp, hence Genis teasing Lloyd about being rejected. It looked as though Colette had refused his company.

"Humph. This is going to be a long journey, after all." Kratos reluctantly murmured aloud as Sara smiled contently to herself.

_Yes…I really hope it is._


	7. Suspicions

_**Thanks for the reviews and grammar assistance!**_

**_I'm sorry this took a while to finish, but I promise you that this chapter is more than worth the wait. My birthday was last week so I was kinda distracted. XD So be nice! :x But please bitch slap me for grammar anyway._**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any character in this story with the exception of Sara. If I did, I'd be one rich bastard.**_

* * *

Sara Aurion beamed happily as she and her companions had finally reached the foot of the Ossa Trail several days later. Of course everyone felt relieved to be out of that desert, but her and Noishe more so than the others. The thick-furred protozoan walking closely beside her had an obvious reason for feeling this way. Sara, on the other hand, felt relieved because she had never been exposed to such an extreme temperature change before. After all, the temperature in Welgaia had always remained fairly cool and, well… _always_ the same.

When Lloyd and the others came to an abrupt stop for whatever reason, she did as well; though she hadn't actually been paying any attention to what they were doing, or rather saying. She was also completely oblivious to the fact that she was no longer standing on dirt or a patch of grass but rather standing at the edge of a large wooden board adjacent to a red lever.

She was like a newborn child again—curiously admiring nearly everything around her; the rustle of the trees, the sounds of insects and wildlife and the moist breeze brushing against her cheeks that carried the faint scent of the ocean she'd been dying to lay her eyes upon.

She was now so in tune with this natural setting that she had become completely out of touch with everyone around her, especially when they were busy trying to get her attention.

"SARA, LOOK OUT!" Lloyd frantically called out to her.

Sara's eyes snapped open as if she had been warped in some kind of trance as she turned to meet her companion's gazes; but as she turned to spare a glance, she suddenly began to plunge down a dark shaft as the wooden board beneath her feet had apparently revealed itself to be a trap door. She would have screamed if she could, but instead continued to silently toss and turn down the shaft with terror written all over her face.

It also didn't comfort her at all to know that she was falling beside another person.

As she continued to fall, it felt as though time had prolonged the terrifying descent. And once again, she became out of touch with reality as she faintly recalled a similar incident from her memory.

_In her mind she was once again three years old, conscious as she rapidly descended off the side of a steep cliff. She screamed in terror for someone, anyone, to help her. She screamed for her mother, her father—the last words she would ever speak. And just as she did then, her body smashed against the ground. She could faintly recall the searing pain that ran through her body, snapping her bones like twigs instantaneously. Seconds that felt like hours later, she finally fell unconscious._

Unfortunately for her this time around, neither she nor the person beside her did.

* * *

"Shit!! SARA!" Lloyd called down the shaft, his voice so audible that he hoped she could hear him.

"Oh no! I did it again!" Colette bit her lip, on the verge of tears as her cheeks flushed with concern for her companion and the assassin who fell with her.

The four who remained (minus Colette, who was picking herself off of the ground after she had fallen over the lever) stared down into the darkness of the shaft in silence. The light from the sun towering directly above their heads had allowed them to see at least halfway down. Even so, Sara and the assassin had fallen quite a ways.

"Don't worry, Colette. I don't think it was fatal…" Genis began, intellectually stroking his thumb and index finger against the tip of his chin. "Assuming the assassin's and Sara's weight to be 45kg each, and this hole to be 10m deep, and calculating the gravity constant at 9.8, the impact shouldn't have been fatal."

"Gravity constant…? I don't understand what you just said, but they're alive, right?" Lloyd asked cluelessly, already pointing out the obvious.

"…Lloyd, your genius is showing." Genis muttered sarcastically to himself.

"Thanks!" He grinned at first, though after a moment stopped to think whether his friend was really complimenting him. "Wait…"

"That wasn't a compliment, Lloyd." Kratos stared helplessly at his idiotic son, eventually bringing his gaze back down to stare into the darkness of the shaft as he wondered what had become of his equally idiotic daughter. _She probably didn't even notice the assassin call out to us before she attempted to attack the Chosen…_

"Genis is right, it couldn't have been fatal." Raine began, turning towards the clearly upset Chosen with a gentle smile. "Don't feel too bad, Colette. If you hadn't tripped over the switch, you might have been killed."

"But Sara…" She murmured softly.

"It's her fault for not paying attention." Kratos added gruffly.

"Geez, that's harsh!" Lloyd blinked, taken back by the mercenary's cold attitude towards the situation.

"I merely speak the truth. We must always be on guard for those who threaten the Chosen's journey, especially in places as remote as this. It looks like Sara needed to learn that the hard way."

"In any case, I'm worried about leaving this new enemy of ours alone with her. This appears to be a maintenance shaft that leads down into the mines. If we can quickly reach the other side of the mountain, we may run into them." Raine added reassuringly. "Let's get going."

* * *

"Sheena, are you okay!?" A piercing, almost childlike voice pervaded the darkness surrounding them.

Sara had been lying on her side, facing away from the people she had fallen down the shaft with, when she secretly began to listen to them converse. It would appear that they hadn't noticed her… yet.

"Ahh… sorta. I just can't believe I feel for that trap door!" This 'Sheena' replied to the voice, wincing as she sat up warily while blowing a strand of hair out of her mouth. "…Thanks to that klutzy Chosen."

"I won't tell the others, don't worry!" The childish voice replied reassuringly.

"Thanks, Corrine. I wouldn't want to let everyone down now… They're all counting on me." She murmured reluctantly to herself, as if the weight of the world rested upon her shoulders.

"…What about that other girl who fell with us?" Corrine asked hesitantly, with the sound of a jingling bell following the echo of her voice.

Sara tensed up as their attention fell upon her. She had no idea who these people were and wasn't sure how to handle the situation. Perhaps they would leave her alone if she pretended to be unconscious?

"Oh yeah… one of the Chosen's companions, I think. She must not have noticed the trap either." Sheena whispered softly, turning her head towards the supposedly unconscious girl before rising to her feet. "And it doesn't look as though she's awake… We should take her out now while we have the chance so we can reach the Chosen more easily."

Sara's heart nearly skipped a beat. It was clear to her now that her life was in peril. She was alone, in a dark mine shaft, with what appeared to be two assassins that were after the Chosen; but more importantly she was outnumbered. She had to think of something as quickly as possible. It eventually dawned upon her that she had two options at this point: charging in fists first or waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

She could faintly hear the glint of a knife being unsheathed as one of the assassins took a cautious step forward. She closed her eyes as she had reached a decision within herself, hoping that she would make it out of this alive; another step forward.

"Everyone is counting on me…" Sheena whispered to herself; another step forward.

The sound of a jingling bell rang audibly as it drew closer and closer; another step forward.

"It's nothing personal against _you _or anything… but you're in my way." The assassin spoke again, as if reciting this to herself absent-mindedly; another step forward. "You're a threat to us."

"Sheena… you might wake her." Corrine hissed softly; another step forward.

After a few moments of silence, Sara sensed the presence of the assassin looming over her. She steadied her breathing and refused to move otherwise. In the back of her mind, she could faintly recall the training lessons she had with her father; particularly the ones that focused on surprise attacks and self-defense. Unfortunately it took her a moment or two to realize that this was no training lesson, and that this assassin certainly wasn't her father.

Sheena knelt on the ground beside her before hesitantly pressing her hand against Sara's shoulder, rolling her flat on the ground. She paused for a moment, making sure the girl hadn't stirred or showed any signs of consciousness. When she felt that she was in the clear, she tightened her grasp around the hilt of her knife and lifted it to meet her gaze. She carefully positioned it over the girl's heart and closed her eyes like a frightened child, quickly bringing it down to strike her target.

The assassin's amber-colored eyes snapped open when she heard no sound and glanced down at her arm as she felt the rough grip of the seemingly unconscious girl's hand restraining her wrist.

Sara's identical amber-colored eyes snapped open after a moment or two when she realized that she was alive and unharmed, quickly tugging at the sides of her lips to form a devious smirk to taunt her adversary with.

Taken by surprise, Sheena froze and gave her opponent a chance to strike. Sara quickly seized the opportunity by folding Sheena's arm back to bring the knife away from her chest and slammed her jaw with the palm of her free hand, nearly dislocating it as the assassin fell backwards, writhing in pain.

"SHEENA!" Corrine screamed, falling off of Sheena's shoulder as she fell backwards. When the assassin landed on her backside, she instantly felt disoriented by the blow and absent-mindedly cupped her mouth with the palm of her hand as it filled with blood.

Sara applied all of her weight to her back as she rolled backwards before projecting herself forward to land on her feet.

Noticing the disoriented assassin stagger to her feet, she once again seized the opportunity to strike by charging forward and kicking her foot into her stomach. Blood spewed from Sheena's mouth and onto Sara's face as she flew backwards, slamming into the wall of the mineshaft before slowly sinking to her knees.

Sara stared intently at the assassin fall to her knees and slowly relaxed the tension in her muscles, watching the small creature known as Corrine leap to Sheena's rescue. Realizing that she had won this round, Sara wiped the assassin's blood off of her face with the back of her hand and decided to make a run for it; quickly disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.

* * *

Sara didn't get very far as she staggered forward, feeling the searing pain from that nasty fall finally catch up with her. She stopped abruptly to catch her breath as she carefully lifted her shirt to trace her fingers along her right side. There would definitely be a nasty bruise there by tomorrow morning… _if_ she lived long enough. She had to focus, get out of here and catch up with the others before the assassin and that small creature did. Determined to escape, she pulled her shirt back down and pressed forward.

In a matter of seconds, she once again staggered to a stop as the pain began to settle into a consistency that would hinder her from moving too quickly. Before she could slowly continue along her way, a card with an obscure symbol written on the front appeared before her, suspended in midair. She took a step back to glance at it curiously, wondering what it was and where it came from. She decided to hold onto it and show it to the others when she met up with them later on.

Sara did not hesitate to reach her hand out for the card, but instantly regretted doing so as she triggered an explosion that sent her flying backwards. Unfortunately for her, she landed on the ground on her injured side and had a hard time getting up afterwards. The explosion was also small but powerful enough to make the walls and ceiling shake as dirt and soot began to fall from their crevices.

To make matters worse, a familiar voice sneered from behind as she turned around to meet its owner's gaze, "Humph. It clearly says 'DANGER' on the front. I thought even someone as clever as you could figure that out."

"…"

Sheena stepped out of the darkness from behind with three more of those cards resting between her fingers. Corrine soon followed, bouncing up to the assassin's shoulder with her bell jingling along the way. Although her adversary attempted to taunt her with a smirk, Sara quickly noticed Sheena's free hand move to clutch a sore spot on her back.

Sara winced as she staggered to her feet, holding her sore side with one hand as she sent the assassin a bitter glare. She put on a fierce gaze, but on the inside she was panicking. If the assassin triggered another explosion, the mine could cave in on the three of them. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to get this across to her.

"Well!? Say something!" The assassin called out, wondering why her opponent didn't hit her with a snarky comeback.

Sara rolled her eyes and pointed to the cards resting between the assassin's fingers. She clearly didn't trust the assassin enough to just write this on her palm.

"My cards? What about them?" Sheena asked skeptically, wondering where exactly this was going and why she wasn't speaking to her directly.

Sara nodded and brought her coiled fists up to her gaze, quickly outstretching her fingers to mimic an explosion. She followed this gesture by pointing up towards the ceiling with her index finger and then flattening her hands as she brought the down.

"Eh…?" The dark blunette cocked her head to the side, watching the silent girl twitch in frustration as she repeated the demonstration a few more times for her to understand. "…So you're saying if I create another explosion, the mine might collapse?"

Sara sighed with relief and nodded.

"Tch… 'Coming from the girl who had previously slammed me into a wall." Sheena responded bitterly with a smirk. "Still, you may be right; but that doesn't mean we can't face off against each other."

Sara responded to this with a defiant glare and decided to make a run for it despite her injury. If she was going to face off against this assassin, she would rather it not be in a dimly lit, narrow tunnel such as this.

"H-HEY!" Sheena called out to her, twitching in frustration as she watched her opponent disappear into the darkness once again. "Don't run away!"

"Let's get her, Sheena! She couldn't have gotten that far!" Corrine turned to meet Sheena's gaze with a look of encouragement.

"Right." She nodded in full confidence, followed by a smirk. "You won't get away from me that easily…"

* * *

Sara stumbled forward as she attempted to run from her opponents as fast as she possibly could. The pain from her injury continued to intensify as she pushed herself beyond her limits; but she wasn't about to stop to catch her breath either.

After running straight through the tunnel quite a ways, she eventually stumbled upon a large wooden board that blocked the way. She came to a stop, catching her breath once again as she bent over to glance down at her feet. Upon doing so, she noticed a shaft of sunlight radiate off of one of the silver buckles on her boot and quickly glanced up at the small crevice underneath the wooden board, where the light was coming from.

Realizing that this may be the exit, the corner of her eye caught onto a red lever sticking out of the side of the right wall. She quickly pulled it down; watching impatiently as the wooden board slowly began to lower like a drawbridge. The shaft of sunlight grew even larger by the second as it beamed through the darkness of the tunnel, blinding her gaze as she warily placed her arm over her eyes to shield herself.

"Oh no, you don't! I won't let you catch up to the others so you can team up on me!" Sheena called out from behind, charging forward at an alarming rate of speed. Sara quickly turned around to block her attack but was instantly lunged forward over the lowering drawbridge as their bodies collided with one another.

Their collision sent them flying forward, slamming the lowering drawbridge to the ground as they rolled over each other before finally coming to a stop over a patch of grass. Sheena successfully pinned her body to the ground, but Sara had managed to free one of her arms as she punched the assassin across the face.

Sheena yelped out in pain as she fell off of Sara and rolled over onto her side. Both girls quickly staggered to their feet as they stared at each other spitefully, ready to face off against each other here and now. That is, until a certain blond-haired Chosen intervened, "W-wait! Please don't fight!"

"Wow, they caught up with us!" Lloyd pointed out the already obvious once again.

Sara and Sheena lost their initial focus and turned to see the Chosen and her four companions standing on the other side of the clearing. Colette and the others stared at the two severely injured opponents for a moment, noticing that their clothes were equally torn and dirty and that both of their faces were covered in spots of dry blood.

"You guys look terrible…" Genis blinked, taken back by their grotesque appearances.

"Sara, are you alright?" Kratos turned to his daughter, purely concerned about her health as she limped her way over to the Professor, who began to heal some of her injuries. Sara nodded softly, coughing up some of the smoke from the tunnel that left a sore lump in her throat.

"H-hey! I'm not letting you off that…" Sheena paused to cough the smoke out of her lungs as well, warily clutching her chest. "…easily! I won't be caught off guard this time! Prepare to die!"

Although she was in no condition to fight, Sheena pushed herself forward and went straight for the Chosen. Colette suddenly lost her balance again and fell over before Lloyd jumped in front of her and blocked the assassin's projectile card attacks with his swords. Kratos, Genis and soon Colette also joined into the battle while Sara and Raine remained on the sidelines.

Desperate to win, Sheena pulled out a special looking card with an intricate design on the front and summoned a Wind Guardian to assist her. Genis had been standing in the offensive line, casting **Spread**, when the Wind Guardian had knocked him off of his feet and sent him flying into Colette.

"Lloyd, take care of the assassin! I'll go for the Wind Guardian." Kratos ordered quickly, zipping past Lloyd at lightning speed.

"Leave it to me!" The brunette swordsman smirked overconfidently, continuing to slash projectile cards with his twin blades as he charged straight towards the limp assassin.

Lloyd and Sheena were locked in a heated battle for nearly two minutes before she collapsed from exhaustion, falling to her knees after taking a critical blow to her side. In order to ensure that she was down for the count, Lloyd victoriously held the tip of his blade to her neck.

Meanwhile, Kratos, Genis and Colette were busy taming the Wind Guardian. This opponent proved to be much tougher than its summoner as it continuously knocked the Chosen and the half-elf off their feet while successfully deflecting the Seraph's blows.

Kratos, desperate to protect the Chosen but also concerned about blowing his cover, hesitantly unleashed the power of his Exsphere and struck a critical blow to the Guardian's thin physique. It cried out in pain from the blow but quickly sprung back into action as it managed to claw the side of the Seraph's face with its sharp fingertips. Kratos knew full well that he could have easily deflected the blow, but instead allowed himself to take a hit as a three gaping wounds scarred his left cheek.

Sara stared intently at the heated battle between the two with a noticeable glint in her eye, eager to jump in and help as she watched her father purposely take a blow. Raine noticed her anxiousness, watching the injured girl attempt to rise to her feet, before she intervened and grabbed her by the arm, forcing her back on the ground beside her. "Wait! You're still injured! Although I've done all I can to help you, you're still in no condition to fight. You weakened the assassin for us—that's enough for now."

A flustered Sara turned towards the Professor with a definite stare, earning an equally powerful glare from Raine who had an obvious intolerance for disobedience. "Sara! I may not be your teacher, but you're going to stay put and do as I say! Is that understood!?"

Sara reluctantly nodded with a silent sigh, sitting stiffly in place as she turned her attention back towards the battle. The Professor relaxed the tension in her muscles and let go of her arm, though cautiously continued to stare at the girl out of the corner of her eye.

By the time they returned their attention towards the battle, Kratos struck the finishing blow on the Wind Guardian and sheathed his blade victoriously as he watched the creature fade away. The side of his cheek continued to bleed down the side of his face as the power of the Exsphere subsided, but otherwise he seemed to be okay. Colette and Genis had taken a bit of a beating from the battle, but overall appeared to be in much better shape than Sheena was.

"Grr…" Sheena scoffed, glaring at Sara in particular as Lloyd removed the tip of his sword from her neck and stepped back. Sara glared back at the assassin with a triumphant smirk, eyeing the bruise she had inflicted upon the side of the assassin's face with pride.

"Are you alright, Ms. Assassin!?" Colette folded her hands together, frowning at the severely injured state of the assassin. Kratos placed a hand on the Chosen's shoulder and shook his head before she could take a closer look.

"W-what!?" Sheena turned her attention toward the blonde-haired Chosen, staring at her with a mixture of horror and confusion. "I was trying to kill you! Why are you…?"

"Oh yeah, but now that the fight's over we can start over and be friends, right?" Colette smiled with a hopeful stare, earning reluctant sighs from her companions.

"Friends? Hah! I don't think so…" Sheena smirked as she warily rose to her feet, wiping the blood dripping down the side of her lip with the back of her sleeve. "You might have won this round, but it won't be so easy next time! Prepare yourselves!"

With that said, the assassin and Corrine summoned a mysterious puff of smoke to surround them. When the smoke subsided moments later, they had vanished along with it.

"She's gone…" Genis murmured aloud.

"She'll be back." Kratos replied, reading the boy's thoughts. "If she's after the Chosen's life, she will no doubt follow us to our next destination."

"But why are people trying to kill Colette? Won't regenerating the world save everyone?" Lloyd asked obliviously. Sara had been wondering that as well, assuming in her mind the assassin might have been hired by the Desians.

"There are always those who reject salvation. In any case, we must be even more careful than we have been." Kratos added stiffly.

"Those clothes… where have I…?" Raine murmured subconsciously, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What's wrong, Raine?" Genis asked, drawing her attention away from her thoughts.

"N-nothing. It's nothing." The Professor shook her head before abruptly changing the subject. "Anyway, Izoold is just a short walk away from here. Let's get going."

"Oh yeah! When we get to the inn, you have to tell us all about what happened in the mine, Sara!" Lloyd turned to Sara enthusiastically, earning a bashful grin from his twin sister.

"I'm interested to hear it as well." Kratos added, flashing a tiny smile that only Sara seemed to notice.

"I wonder when we'll see Ms. Assassin again…" Colette thought aloud, following the Aurion's out of the clearing with Genis at her side.

"Colette…" The smaller half-elf rolled his eyes, staring skeptically at his clueless friend. "She was trying to kill you, remember?"

"Oh yeah. When we become friends, I'll have to ask her why she was doing that." The Chosen flashed a beaming smile while her companions sighed helplessly at her innocent nature.

Raine trailed behind the rest of the party, lost in thought as she couldn't help but stare daggers into Sara's back. There was something weird about her that the others seemed too distracted to notice… something she didn't like. It was a sort of something that she just couldn't put her finger on. It might just the rebellious qualities the girl possessed that had irritated the Professor, but it might also be something more… She had similar suspicions about Kratos Aurion as well, who seemed to have a gentle spot for the silent girl. Was there possibly…a connection between the two? But then again, he also displayed a similar affection for Lloyd, who she was sure he had no relation to whatsoever. Perhaps it was just her imagination, after all…

"Raine, hurry up!" Her little brother called out to her, breaking her train of thought. She brushed off the thoughts that lingered in the recesses her mind and ran on ahead to catch up to the others, but still kept up her suspicions nonetheless.


	8. Defiance

_**I went back and edited chapters one, two and three like a week ago for grammar and such so it's a lot better than it was, IMO. :P It's also nice to read over your own work 'cuz it motivates you to keep going. At least, that's how it is for me. **_

_**The first part of this chapter probably should have been included a bit earlier in the story, but oh well. This also may or may not be the only time I include a little Yggi scene before the Tower of Salvation. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.**_

* * *

Standing impatiently before the malfunctioned terminal located in eastern Welgaia, Mithos Yggdrasill silently attempted to quench the anger raging inside of him as his arms tightly constricted across his chest. To put it lightly, he was _furious_. He was certainly not one to be trifled with and hated defiance above all things. He thought he had made it very clear to his fellow Seraph that _she_would be too much of a distraction and could very well place his entire plan in jeopardy; so what could his former teacher be thinking by having her follow him into the declining world? Or perhaps she left of her own accord? Could she have eavesdropped on the conversation he had shared with Pronyma that day? Whatever the case, the Aurion child had escaped almost too easily from his clutches and he had taken it upon himself to place the blame entirely upon the incompetence of his angels.

"WORK FASTER!" He hollered furiously at his personal retinue of angels currently servicing the device. Although they obediently complied with his request, they were indifferent towards his irascible behavior, thus further agitating the already agitated Seraph.

_Such a nuisance…_

* * *

"_Lloyd…Sara…" A nostalgic, yet simultaneously unfamiliar voice that lingered from the deep recesses of her memory emerged in her dreams; a gruff voice that sounded as if it were choking on or devouring something. And yet there was an eerily…gentle quality about it._

"_Mommy…" The voice of a frightened child responded hesitantly. The sounds of clashing swords and a creature barking angrily could also be heard in the background, but she paid them no mind as the image of her mother's eyes rolling back into her head had consumed her thoughts._

_Sara had witnessed the horrific sight several times in her dreams, but every time she did she could hear her younger self scream in terror; by hearing that shrilling cry over and over again, she felt both dismay and envy rage inside of her from the piercing sound. If only she could release her frustration; if only she could harmoniously scream in tune with her former self, maybe then she could…_

* * *

Sara's eyes fluttered open as the gentle sea breeze brushed her hair against her cheek. She stirred at the sound of seagulls gathering outside her window, only to disperse moments later. And if that wasn't enough to lift her from her drowsy disposition, the scent of the ocean began to tickle her nose and arouse the senses. She scrunched her nose at the powerful scent and felt a pleasant smile grace her chapped lips.

As her vision came into focus, she absent-mindedly stared up at the ceiling of the inn that her companions had decided to rest in for the night. She could faintly recall the dream she had experienced in her sleep, but didn't have to ponder about it for very long to remember what it was about.

Gently shifting her gaze from the ceiling above to the window at her left, she quietly picked up the sound of the tide crashing against the nearby sandy shores and began to forget about her troubled past with the soothing sound of the ocean. Just then, a glint of desire appeared out of the corner of her eyes as she excitedly threw the bed sheets off of her body, which had nearly recovered from yesterday's events. The roaring ocean was just outside her window, and they were going to go on a boat today as well! She was enthusiastic about today, perhaps to a fault, just like a _certain someone_ she knew.

Careful not to wake the Professor and Colette, who were sleeping in her room, she quickly changed into her travelling clothes and tip-toed her way out of the room. Quietly shutting the door behind her, she eagerly took off down the hallway; inevitably crashing into a certain brunette swordsman on her way out.

"WOAH!" Lloyd cried out as they collided into each other.

Sara quickly regained her balance but reached her hand out for his as she noticed him stumble backwards. Her fingerless-gloved hand clasped his, holding onto the fabric of his red glove as she helped him up. As she helped him up, she could faintly recognize the nostalgic grip of his hand in hers; and when she glanced at his gaze, she could tell he sensed it too. As much as she wanted to reveal her identity to him, she quickly slipped her hand out of her grasp and felt herself flush, scratching the back of her head nervously as he stared at her cluelessly.

"…So uhh, why the rush?" He grinned, completely oblivious to what had just occurred between them. She couldn't help but smile at this and shook her head absent-mindedly; then she suddenly remembered that he had asked her a question and motioned her right hand to mimic the waves of the ocean.

"The ocean, huh? Same here!" He whispered excitedly as she nodded happily, equally eager and anxious to see it for herself. "I snuck out of our room to see it for myself. Do you want to go down to the beach with me?"

She grinned happily at this and nodded, following him down the hallway. He pressed his finger to his lips as they moved ever so cautiously, careful not to wake the raging Professor and the others.

* * *

"Wow, this is great! I can't wait to go on the boat later!" Lloyd added subconsciously, outstretching his arms as they walked along the sandy shores of the port city of Izoold.

Sara nodded in agreement, feeling a grin creep its way onto the once normally stoic features of her face. She just couldn't understand how her father could live in Welgaia for thousands of years when it was so much livelier down here. Even if this was the declining world, she couldn't help but love almost everything about it. The people she's encountered, the beauty around her; but most of all…

"We have an ocean near Iselia…" Lloyd began, breaking the silence as Sara shook off her thoughts to listen to him speak. "…well it's more a bay, but I've never really been to another town before so it's a first time for me. Plus, the tide here is much stronger!"

_Iselia… That's the place where Lloyd grew up, huh?_

"'What's it like in Iselia?'" She stopped him from walking to write against the palm of his gloved hand. She quickly noticed his enthusiasm falter as he slowly slipped his hand away from hers. "It…_was_ beautiful."

"…?"

"Nobody told you, huh?" He added softly as she cocked her head to the side in question. "Genis and I were banished from Iselia. The Desians came and burned the village… because we tried to help someone named Marble who was a prisoner at the ranch."

"…"

"And they were after this, too…" He lifted his hand, showing off the azure Exsphere that glistened in the sunlight.

_That Exsphere…he said that he'd gotten it from his mother, right? But that means…_

She subconsciously took a cautious step backwards, earning a perplexed look from her twin brother. She suddenly felt her gaze rip away from the gem and lower to stare down at the dry sand covering her feet.

She couldn't bear to stare at that _thing_; to have her brother see the horror stricken in her eyes. That Exsphere was the whole reason that their mother was targeted and killed. It was the reason that their family had been separated in the first place. It was the reason her father had become a slave for Cruxis. It was the reason that she couldn't live a normal life. It was the reason for her voice, her dreams… _everything_.

"Mom protected this with her life… and I vow to avenge her sacrifice." Lloyd added confidently, but also with a quivering tone in his voice. She returned her gaze to meet his and could tell that this had been hard on him as well. She slowly began to understand that the horrific events of that day, fourteen years ago, had not affected her exclusively.

Just then, her curiosity suddenly got the best of her as she grabbed his hand and scribbled onto it very quickly. She had been meaning to ask him this for quite a while now, though rarely ever had a moment alone with him thanks to Genis and Colette.

"'Do I…remember mom?'" Her brother read aloud, squinting to keep up with her rushed handwriting. "Nah, I was only three at the time, but…"

_But?_

"But I feel this… warm presence from Mom whenever I use my Exsphere. And when that happens, I feel like I can remember certain things about her; you know, like her scent or her voice…" He continued to ramble on for a bit as Sara began to drift back into her own thoughts.

_So he faintly remembers her, too…_

"Say, my Exsphere feels kinda warm right now…" He murmured softly to himself before capturing his sister's attention once again as he grabbed her hand and placed it on his Exsphere. "Here, feel! Then you'll see what I'm talking about."

Sara silently gasped at the warmth of his Exsphere as Lloyd gently pressed her hand against it; and it was now clear to her that Lloyd had been right about Mom all along. She could feel her presence from the gem as well and instantly lost all of her disdain for the object. Within a matter of seconds, the Exsphere also began to glow and suddenly grew even warmer by the touch.

"Woah! What the…?" Lloyd gaped, along with Sara, as the siblings fearfully stared down at the glowing Exsphere. "It's never done this before!"

"I guess she likes you or something!" Her fraternal twin added with a carefree grin as she slowly removed her hand from the gem, watching the glow subside as they parted. Sara couldn't help but grin as well, flushing as she felt a stinging sensation of emotion swell up inside of her.

Could it be that her mother was somehow _alive_ in that thing? It was highly possible. She knew from her studies of the declining world that Exsphere's were made from human lives. If that was the case then… could it be that she recognized her own daughter after all these years?

_Mother…_

"Hey, are you hot or something? Your face is all red." Lloyd pointed out, once again obliviously ruining the tender moment between the siblings. His flushed sister nodded quickly and turned her back to him, rolling her eyes at her brother's clueless disposition.

She then caught sight of Genis running towards them along the shoreline and subconsciously pushed away any lingering thoughts of her mother. She waved to her half-elf companion casually as Lloyd turned his attention towards his best friend and regained his enthusiasm in a mere instant. "Genis! Hey, you'll never believe what my Exsphere just did when Sara put her hand on it!"

"Ah yeah, that's great and all Lloyd, but you better come back to the inn and quickly! Raine's kinda mad that the two of you snuck out this early without saying a word to anyone." Genis scoffed.

Lloyd and Sara gulped simultaneously, glancing fearfully at each other as they reluctantly followed Genis back to the inn.

* * *

After a good scolding from Raine, a very confusing ordeal to find a sailing vessel and a very eventful boat ride across the ocean, the party arrived at Palmacosta harbor at midday.

As the ship docked into port, Lloyd and Colette stood at the bow in an engaging conversation about how big Palmacosta is and what sights they should look into seeing before they leave for the second seal. Genis and Sara reclined against the ship's cabin as they helplessly watched Raine jitter nervously beside them. Kratos had distanced himself from the rest of the party, staring out at the sea one last time before they had to disembark.

The party disembarked a few moments later and thanked Max, the fisherman's son, for taking them across. After stocking up on supplies at the harbor, they proceeded down the boardwalk that led to the so-called 'Main Street' of the city. Colette and Lloyd were as inseparable as always as they walked in front along with Genis and Noishe following closely behind the two. Raine and Kratos followed closely behind their teenage companions, carefully making sure that none of them would become separated from the others in the crowd; especially the Chosen. Although Kratos preferred to keep a close eye on his daughter as well, he thought it was best for now to let the sheltered child trail behind as she gaped like a gawking idiot at nearly everything and anything they passed.

As Lloyd, Colette and Genis admired how large Palmacosta was to them, Sara felt somewhat disappointed at its size compared to Welgaia; but she also found this city to be nothing to snuff at either. There was evidence of daily life activity everywhere, from the smiling faces of children playing in the streets to the street vendors selling anything and everything you could imagine; not to mention it was crowded as well and the city was filled with scents and sounds of all kinds. After a careful observation, it was clear to her that she would definitely choose this place over Welgaia any day.

"Palmacosta is the largest city in Sylvarant, you know. Impressive, huh?" Genis broke the silence, mainly directing this statement towards Lloyd and Colette.

"Yeah… Wait Genis, isn't this the place where that special school is? You know the one you were supposed to go too?" Lloyd inquired abruptly.

"Ah, yeah! Yeah, I got a recommendation to go there…" He answered excitedly at first, but suddenly began to trail off as his facial expression fell instantly. Everyone but Raine and Sara sent him questioning glances. Genis had secretly wanted to attend this school, but also didn't want to leave his sister and his friends behind either, which is why he chose to stay in Iselia. The Professor stared at her little brother empathetically while Sara's attention span was _nonexistent_ at this point.

"Genis?" Colette called out to him softly, but instead went colliding into another person on the street before she could recieve an answer. Simultaneously, a bottle with a strange rose-colored liquid fell out of the girl's hands and smashed into pieces on the ground beside her. "Ah!"

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Another voice apart from the person Colette collided with previously barked furiously at her as she roughly landed on her backside.

Everyone in the party stopped abruptly to help her up while Lloyd began to fume from this guy's attitude. Sara, once again oblivious to what had just occurred, kept moving forward before she eventually collided into Kratos unintentionally. The Seraph barely staggered at the impact while his daughter attempted to regain her balance, swinging her arms out at her sides in order to lean forward. After she recovered from the blow, she glanced up at her father with a nervous grin; receiving a warning glare from him to 'knock it off and pay attention.'

"…There she goes again." Genis murmured to himself, obviously referring to Colette.

"Oww! What did you do that for!?" The person she had accidentally collided with moaned in irritation as the rude man beside her helped her to her feet. "Oh no, the Palma Potion that we just received!"

"I-I'm terribly sorry!" Colette stammered nervously, bowing to the group of people apologetically. Strangely enough, almost an equal number of companions had been accompanying this girl as well.

"Hey lady, that was a very valuable potion! Just how are you planning to make up for this, anyway?" The rude man fumed as he entered a glaring contest with Lloyd.

"I'll buy a replacement potion right away!"

"…Replacement potion!? Do you honestly think that's enough to appease my anger?" He snapped abruptly.

"Now you just sound like an idiot." Lloyd scoffed, absent-mindedly reading his own thoughts aloud.

"What'd you say, punk!? Do you realize who you're talking too?"

"L-let's just let it go, Giro. They said they'd buy a replacement for us." The person Colette had collided into abruptly intervened, attempting to rationally diffuse the attention they had attracted from passing civilians.

"Hmph." Giro folded his arms and reluctantly restrained himself. "You got off easy this time. We'll wait here for you, then."

"Thank you for understanding; I'm sorry again for the trouble." Colette bowed apologetically once again as her companions sighed helplessly at her annoying habit.

* * *

Sometime later as the sun began to set, the party stopped to rest briefly at Palma Square after running into a heated quarrel between a shopkeeper's daughter Chocolat and two Desian soldiers, obtaining and returning a replacement potion to Giro and his companions, and finally meeting with Governor-General Dorr and falsely being accused of impersonating the Chosen's group (although that situation was quickly rectified thanks to Colette's clumsiness.) Suffice it to say, it had been a long and eventful day for everyone.

"I can't believe those guys were impersonating us all along! We shouldn't have let them off the hook so easily… They're probably halfway to Hakonesia Peak by now." Lloyd sighed to himself in frustration.

"But it's not like we knew that they were impersonating us when we ran into them." Genis added, taking a seat on the steps of City Hall beside his best friend.

"True, but they were rather suspicious-looking from the beginning. That girl that we ran into was leading a group of people equal to the number of companions that Colette has by her side. Therefore, if you consider the fact that Desians have made it nearly impossible for many people to travel these days…" Kratos began, leaving Raine to finish off his train of thought for him.

"Kratos is right. It's unusual for a group of people other than the Chosen and her companions to be travelling around Sylvarant so freely because of the Desians. The only people you ever see on the roads these days are scholars, mercenaries, pilgrims and travelling merchants; hardly anyone travels for pleasure."

"They could have been any one of those things though, couldn't they?" Colette added, hypothetically speaking.

"But mercenaries usually work alone, and rarely, if ever, have more than two or three companions at a time." The mercenary himself answered quickly and sharply, eliminating the possibility completely.

"That Giro guy sounded like a complete idiot, not to mention they didn't _look_like scholars." Genis added somewhat bitterly.

"I would also assume that devote pilgrims of the Church would be more forgiving then they were." Raine murmured to herself just as bitterly.

"And they didn't look like they were selling anything." Genis finished.

"In any case, the Book of Regeneration is gone. Even if we left the city to chase after them now, we'd be wandering in the wilderness in the dark. It's likely they might have sold it off to a collector or a scholar by now." The Professor added bluntly, finally taking a seat beside her little brother.

"Damn it!" Lloyd swore, gritting his teeth at the thought of how rude they were to them; especially Colette.

"It can't be helped. We'll just have to trust in Remiel's words and look for the next seal that is located somewhere on this continent." Kratos added.

"Across the sea…" Raine murmured aloud, gently tapping her chin with the tip of her index finger as she pondered Remiel's words carefully. Was the next seal really hidden somewhere on this continent; or could he have meant an island instead?

"But we don't even know how many are left!" Lloyd added exasperatedly, gently pressing his back against the stone beam situated behind him.

"Hey, where's Sara?" Colette piped, glancing through the crowded streets of Palmacosta from where she sat at Lloyd's side. Everyone seemed to tense up at Colette's observation and began surveying to crowd as well; especially Kratos, who wore a mixed expression of irritation and concern.

Although many shops and churches were closing up for the day, the city's notorious nightlife was just about to get underway.

* * *

**_Well, hope you enjoyed this one! I'm debating whether or not to use the school scene where they measure the party member's intellect, because that scene is terribly funny. XD But we'll see if we can fit it. Any input is appreciated._**


	9. Cinnamon Buns

_**Just a quick reminder, because Sara joined the party, I may bend the plot a bit here and there even this early on. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia. It belongs to Namco and is under the protection of their retinue of lawyers.**_

* * *

"Keep moving you _inferior being_!"

Sara stumbled forward upon hearing these words, nearly being kicked to her knees as she was forced against her will to proceed forward. Behind her, a group of Desians had her hands tightly bound in a restraint, preventing her from fighting back or escaping. It wasn't as if she could do anything about it at the moment, so she reluctantly obeyed.

"…" _When my father finds out about this…_

"It's too bad we didn't get that other little brat who spoke so defiantly towards us earlier. You know, that brown-haired girl…"

"Oh, the shopkeeper's daughter, you mean? Yeah, but we would have exceeded our quota anyway. Just having this _cripple_ in custody is putting our salaries in danger for this month."

_C-cripple!? _Sara fumed, staring daggers into the back of the obnoxious soldier who glanced back at her with a taunting smirk.

"Ooooh, scaaaary! I think I hit a sore spot." The soldier taunted mercilessly, seeking some kind of a humorous reaction from her even though she inevitably couldn't do anything about it; albeit that's not to say she wasn't about to let it go either.

The other soldiers turned towards her and snickered, tightening the restraints on her hands as she writhed in pain.

…_How did I get myself into this mess?_

* * *

_Sara brought up the rear as the party exited City Hall; all of whom were lucky enough to be alive after being accused of acting as Chosen impersonators. When Lloyd decided to take a seat at the steps of the building, no one seemed to object and soon followed his example. It __**had**__ been a long, eventful day for all of them._

_Though while the others were tired enough to call it a day and plan their next move, Sara detached herself from their conversation and let her mind adrift to other things. There were so many strange things she'd never even dream of seeing in the real world, and if this city truly was the largest in Sylvarant, she was certainly not about to pass up a chance at exploring it thoroughly._

_With that thought in mind, she instantly felt torn between doing the right thing and doing what __**felt**__ right to her. _

_**No. I'm a guardian of the Chosen, therefore I have to protect Colette and stay with the others. I doubt they'd comply with my request anyway.**_

_That was obviously the right choice; the choice she should make. _

_**But this world is so strange…there are so many things so see and do, and the other's have taken all of it for granted because they were fortunate enough to grow up in a place like this! Besides, at the end of the journey I'll have to go back to Welgaia with Father and Colette's body; I may never have this opportunity ever again…If I'm cursed to live out my days in that hellhole, I might as well bring some happy memories back with me, right?**_

_But this feeling inside of her began to cloud her judgment. She felt compelled to follow her heart, her desires; to forsake her friends for herself. _

_She hesitantly glanced at her father out of the corner of her eye to notice that he was too busy in his discussion with the others to pay her any mind. This seemed very unusual to her considering that he had always watched her like a hawk no matter where they went. Could this be fate's way of telling her to take advantage of the situation? _

_**But wait… that's dishonest. And the others might worry—**__ Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sound of a bell chiming and an audible man's voice calling out to the dispersing crowds. She quickly glanced to the right as she spotted a street vendor, still open for business even while his competitor's were calling it a day. "Pastries for sale! Nice, warm cinnamon buns fresh from the oven! Get 'em while they're hot! Last batch of the day, half price!" _

_**Cinnamon buns…**__ She recited within herself the name of this foreign food that had captured her attention._

_She instantly felt a sort of mesmerizing warmth tickle her senses as she immersed herself in the intoxicating scent of said pastries. Come to think of it; none of them had a bite to eat ever since they left Izoold. Would it really hurt to indulge herself, even for just a moment or two? _

_She would be quick; she silently thought to herself. They wouldn't even notice her absence. With that in mind, she cautiously rose to her feet, taking a step back into a silhouette of shadows against the side of the building created from the position of the sun before disappearing completely._

* * *

_A brief moment of mindless self indulgence had quickly blossomed into a relaxing night on the town. She had completely forgotten all about Colette and the others. _

_After grasping the lukewarm, sticky pastry in her hands, she began to walk away from the stand as she took a hungry bite out of it; very pleased with this new found discovery. The street vendor was kind enough to let her have the last one as he was getting ready to call it a day. And lucky for her, as she was still unaccustomed to using money to purchase food and items and was still too inexperienced to know when she was being given a fair price and when she wasn't—after all, everything had always been handed to her on a silver platter, or gold if she saw fit._

_As she took her place among the dissipating denizens in the city streets, she instantly lost herself in the sights and sounds of the world around her. Everything seemed to be different at night. In a sense, it was quieter without children running around and there wasn't nearly as much tension as there was at midday or even in the morning. On the other hand, the adults seemed to be much more active at this time of day, some of whom had taken residents in bars or were lingering on the street. Some of them would spare her a glance, while others simply stared after her until she was completely out of sight. Although she was blissfully unaware of their true intentions, this made her nervous nonetheless._

_As she soon found herself as one of the only people left walking through the streets, she caught sight of two older men conversing with each other, one of whom followed her with his eyes as she passed by him. She absently began clutching her food against her chest at his reaction as he smirked and began in low tone of voice, "Mmm, how much?"_

"…_?" She glanced down at her pastry held in front of her chest and returned his hungry gaze with a quizzical one, noticing his eyes that were seemingly captivated in that direction. __**Oh he must mean my food… Of course, tch. What else? Well, he can't have it! If he really wanted one, he should have bought them at half price when the vendor was closing! Sheesh! Not that I remember how much they were anyway…**_

_She nodded towards him apologetically and took another bite of her food as she quickly went on her way, receiving questionable glances from the two men before completely disappearing out of their sights._

_Continuing on her way, she glanced out of the corner of her eye at a girl who looked rather familiar, walking on the other side of the street in the same direction she was. She pondered over this for a moment before realizing that it must be that girl from the shop who stood up to the Desians earlier that day, judging from the bright yellow dress she wore to her long, cascading brown hair._

_She smiled at her subconsciously, admiring her for how strong she was that she could stand up to the Desians despite what they took away from her and how physically powerless she really was. Quite the opposite of a certain someone she knew._

_Before breaking her gaze with the girl whose name she couldn't remember, she watched in horror as the girl was forcibly pulled into an alleyway she had nearly passed by on her way home, disappearing into the silhouette of darkness with a muffled scream left in her wake._

_Sara instinctively ran as fast as she could to the girl's aid, braving the unknown darkness before her as she nervously and ravenously took another bite of her pastry. When her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she caught sight of two Desian soldiers who had her cornered up against the wall at the opposite end of the alleyway._

"_Well, well… not so tough now, are ya Chocolat?" One of the Desians slurred, most likely intoxicated. The girl called Chocolat pressed herself against the wall, her eyes darting in every concievable direction as she desperately tried to find a way to escape._

"_Y-you Desians don't scare me! It's too bad you're too afraid of Dorr to attack in broad daylight!" Chocolat hissed, trying to sound as brave as she possibly could even though her legs were shaking uncontrollably. She had to dig her nails into the brick walls behind her in order to maintain her balance._

_The second soldier cracked his whip, fuming over her insolence as they moved closer to her, heavily armed and extremely dangerous. "Why you insolent little…"_

_Sara gritted her teeth at this and charged forward, knocking the first soldier out with a surprise attack as she slammed an glass bottle she found lying in the street against the back of his head, watching the broken shards of the bottle fall to the ground. The second soldier, who was too stunned to move after witnessing what had transpired, went down without putting up much of a fight as Sara nearly dislocated his jaw with a __**Tiger Jab**__. Chocolat watched from the sidelines, unable to identify her rescuer properly until both men were down for the count._

_**Phew…**_

"_You…" Chocolat began slowly as Sara relaxed the tension in her muscles and turned towards her. "You were at my grandma's shop earlier, weren't you? With those people?"_

_Sara nodded slowly, but froze in place as she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten all about her companions. She shuttered to think what would happen when Raine, or worse—her father, found her._

"_Uhmm… thank you for saving me." Chocolat interrupted her thought process as Sara casually waved it off as if it were nothing. "I'm sorry I don't have any way to repay you right now and I really have to get going before my mom starts to worry so, thanks again! I hope we see each other again sometime!"_

_Sara watched the girl leave and beamed happily, satisfied with her performance and that Chocolat made it out okay in the end. It wasn't as if she wanted a reward, in fact she had to get going herself, so it all worked out for her after all. Now all she had to do was to come up with an excuse so she wouldn't get chewed out for ditching her companions and call it a night._

_After taking a small bite of her pastry that she had somehow held onto during the fight, she took a casual step forward before she felt something hard slam against the back of her head, rendering her unconscious as she fell to the ground with a thud._

_It would appear that one of her adversaries hadn't been down for the count, after all. And as they dragged the unconscious girl away, who was certainly in for a rude awakening, all that was left in her wake was the remnants of half a pastry._

* * *

_Oh yeah, that's how…_

She sighed to herself as she was once again lunged forward, being forced to march toward the Palmacosta Ranch with a group of Desian soldiers, including the two she thought she had knocked out earlier that evening.

She had no idea what time it was, but knew it must have been well into the middle of the night. Her stomach began to grumble once again as she reflected on how she could have been so careless and what she could have done to prevent being captured, or at least what she could have done to save the little bit of food she had left.

_Oh man, I really wanted to finish that cinnamon bun… Stupid Desians!_

By now she was staggering a bit as her hunger depleted what little energy she had left. This seemed to irk the soldiers who followed her as they lunged her even farther forward, to the point where she grew so irritated that she took their forceful lunge as a jump off point to make a run for it.

Why hadn't she thought of this before? Oh yeah, there were the soldiers who marched ahead of her who would have easily prevented that her from succeeded. It's a shame she had forgotten all about that as she dashed forward, narrowly escaping their quick reflexes.

"H-hey! Get back here!!" One of the soldiers cried out before the rest of them began to chase after her in hot pursuit. Luckily, being trained by one of the Four Seraphim meant that you could pretty much outrun anyone and anything that came your way, which is exactly what happened. She lost them almost instantly under the cover of darkness.

Unfortunately, she predictably ran in the direction of Palmacosta before disappearing out of sight, so they knew exactly where she was going.

"She's heading back to Palmacosta! We can still catch up to her!" One of the soldiers cried out.

"No need." Another replied, who wore a strange helmet unlike the ones his companion's wore. He was most likely the one in charge of this small regiment.

"C-captain?"

"Weren't you saying before how you were afraid Magnius would be angry with you if you exceeded your quota?"

"So you're letting her go, Sir?"

"On the contrary, we simply need to report to Magnius of the insolence of that girl, and of the shopkeeper's daughter, and use that as an excuse to invade the city and hold another public demonstration. I'm more than certain he won't object." The Captain smirked deviously, confident in his carefully calculated plan as his men snickered with approval. "Now, let's get back to the Ranch and inform Magnius."

"Yes, Sir!"

* * *

_**I was really craving cinnamon buns when I wrote this. XD Expect the next one very soon!**_


	10. As Long As I Have You

_**From now on, I plan to put a quote at the beginning of every chapter. It just looks nicer. :D I also changed the summary of my story to something a little more fitting-- I think, at least.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own ToS. Namco does.**_

* * *

"_Silence is sometimes the severest criticism." – Charles Buxton_

Well into the middle of the night, Kratos Aurion continued his search for his daughter as he combed the city streets and alleyways of Palmacosta. Lloyd and the others insisted upon helping in the search after sundown, but thanks to Raine's better judgment she had whisked them all to bed leaving Kratos and Noishe to continue the search. Regardless, he would have snuck out of bed to search for her anyway—with or without permission from the Professor.

Lloyd volunteered to have Noishe accompany Kratos, which in a way was a relief for him as he now had someone to vent to about the situation since he had to keep his composure in front of the others. And now that they were out of the way…

"This is _**EXACTLY**_ why I didn't want her coming on the Regeneration journey!" The fuming Seraph nearly exploded, but somehow managed to restrain his outburst into a whisper.

The faithful protozoan at his side whined and nudged his leg tenderly, as if to say everything would be alright. Kratos glanced down at his companion and sighed, fraught with concern for Sara's well being. It wasn't as though she couldn't take care of herself, but rather that she was lost in a foreign world in the middle of the night with absolutely no sense of direction or common knowledge.

"But it's not like I can send her back home or anything, after what happened…" He explained absently to himself, though Noishe also listened as his nose adamantly continued to follow her scent.

Suddenly, he picked up a strong whiff of it and went racing ahead of his former master. Kratos quickly followed in hot pursuit as he was led down a dark alleyway until they reached a dead end, masked by a brick wall. As the Seraph came to a stop, he glanced down at Noishe staring effortlessly at what looked like a half-eaten pastry.

* * *

Well into the middle of the night, Sara Aurion staggered her way through the entrance of the city. Thankfully, Palmacosta didn't have a gate that closed at night and had stationed guards who were as incompetent as they come, so she managed to make her way back into the city effortlessly.

She had her fair share of injuries—a huge bump on the head, a growing bruise on her back and on her knees, and hands that were sore from being restrained for several hours. It had also been quite an ordeal for her to remove them, but she thought it would be better if her companions didn't find out about her little excursion with the Desians so she had struggled to remove them with anything she could find. By doing so, she had nearly exhausted herself in the process.

Luckily the inn was very close to the entrance of the city, and if she knew her friends well enough by now, everyone would be in bed except Kratos. Although she had been hoping to avoid contact with her father, she knew she'd inevitably have to sooner or later. But not tonight—tonight she would sleep well and dread waking up with a major migraine.

Careful not to alert Raine or anyone else with her presence, she opened the door ever so slightly and slid through, closing it behind her without a sound; albeit what she wasn't expecting was running into the receptionist who was still awake at this hour, staring at her with disgust and disapproval.

_Huh…? What's her problem? Well, maybe she'll let me through if I tell her I'm a guardian of the Chosen._

"Excuse me, Miss. We're booked solid—no vacancies." The brunette receptionist recited rather quickly.

Sara bit her lip at this for a moment before holding her hands out for a pen and paper, or perhaps even the woman's hand. Maybe Raine and the others told her she was coming?

"Don't touch me, you disgusting _street vermin_!" She hollered, nearly waking up everyone in the hotel with her ear shattering shriek.

_S-street vermin!?_

"I hate your kind! You're just as bad as half-elves!" She hissed in a low whisper, as not to get in trouble for waking any of their guests.

Sara couldn't believe what she was hearing as glanced down at her attire to try and find anything that would give the woman that impression. She was _a little_ dirty from being dragged away by those soldiers. It wasn't until she glanced at herself in the decorative mirror hanging against the wall adjacent to her that she realized just what the receptionist was talking about. She was downright filthy, with dirt covering her clothes and skin and pieces of paper and other little _treasures _that had attached themselves to her back. She was kind of sticky too and… kind of smelled a little.

_Eww…_

"Get out of this hotel right now or I'll call the Palmacosta Guard!" The woman hissed, trying to sound as intimidating towards her as possible.

Sara knew that there was no way she'd be able to explain herself without waking the Professor and the others in the process so she reluctantly complied, slowly trudging her way out of the hotel. The door was quickly shut behind her as she left and with nowhere else to go, she curled up against the side of the building and sat with her knees up to her chin, staring out at the nothingness before her.

_It's not like she would have believed me anyway. Oh well… if I stay here, the other's will definitely see me on their way out tomorrow morning. _

Before drifting off the sleep she so desperately craved, her thoughts began to drift away from reality and soon she found herself anticipating the worst possible scenarios once the others discovered her.

_I just hope they don't leave me behind or something. Would father really do that to me? I don't think Lloyd and Colette would stand for it, but… then there's the Professor. And I'm not sure what Genis would say about it. _

_Man… I really screwed up this time._

* * *

It was still dark outside, though the sun would creep its way onto the horizon in a few short hours. Internally, behind the cold, stoic mercenary that he portrayed himself to be, Kratos was a wreck by now as he was convinced that he had searched every conceivable place in the city for her with Noishe. Could she have left the city for whatever reason?

Noishe seemed to be following her scent, though she was getting harder and harder to track down as if her scent had mixed with several other people or as if she had disappeared off the face of Sylvarant completely.

Realizing that it was futile to keep up the search much longer, Kratos sighed to himself and gestured Noishe along as they headed back for the inn. He had no idea what he was going to do about Sara at this point, and Raine would most likely encourage the others to leave her behind for the sake of the journey. That's what he would have done as well if this was any other person. But this was his daughter, and he couldn't possibly live with himself if he abandoned her. Anna would surely never forgive him.

Much to the Seraph's surprise, Noishe abruptly took off running towards the inn at an alarming rate of speed.

…_A scent, perhaps?_

Filled with desperation and dismay, Kratos followed in hot pursuit one last time, praying to the goddess he knew didn't exist that this would somehow lead him to Sara. And just like fourteen years ago, there she was—covered in dirt and curled up in a fetal position against the side of the building.

As her father approached her quietly, he noticed her breathing patterns were rhythmically paced, indicating that she was probably fast asleep. Or at least she was until Noishe stuck his nose in her face and waged his tail happily. She simply stirred at first, quickly falling back asleep until the protozoan effortlessly licked the side of her face. It was kind of humorous the way she reacted by flailing her arms and pushing the protozoan's face away with annoyance.

Kratos sighed a sigh of relief and sent the excited protozoan away before kneeling by her side as she stirred, shaking her awake with his hand clutching her shoulder. She winced at the touch and he noticed as he slowly drew his hand away. Now that he was up close, he could see that she had been through a lot—from the dirt on her clothes, the faint stench of waste and how uncomfortable she looked in her sleep.

"Sara." He hissed in a harsh whisper. By now, she'd given up trying to fall back asleep and instead lethargically opened her weary eyes to meet her father's hardened gaze.

She smiled at first upon seeing that she wasn't alone anymore, but quickly brushed the thought away as she suddenly remembered why she didn't want to see him in the first place. Her eyes dilated as she quickly turned on her side, breaking her gaze with him. She wasn't sure if she had been more afraid of the Desians who had nearly imprisoned her or the wrath of her father, one of the Four Seraphim.

Although she assumed the worst, she wasn't expecting him to grab her by the shoulder and pin her to the ground in order for her to look him in the eye, "Look at me."

She was well aware that resistance was futile at this point, so she reluctantly gave into his command and stared him in the eye, her heartbeat quickening as she met his gaze.

"Why?" He asked rather shrewdly, holding his hand out for her to write with.

_Why…? _She paused.

"Answer the question!" He raised the tone of his voice a bit, tightening the grip he had on her shoulder ever so slightly.

She had no idea where to begin or what exactly he was asking her. Why did she run off like that? Why was she sleeping outside? Why was she covered in filth? Why did she put herself before her friends? Chances are that he was inquiring about all of those and more.

"'…I'm sorry.'? That's it?" His eyes narrowed a bit as she fidgeted uncomfortably. "You know better than anyone that I don't require sleep. The others won't be awake for hours, so start explaining! _Why?_" He asked a second time.

"'Don't you know?'" She wrote effortlessly, which surprised him immensely. He assumed that she would start off with some unnecessary excuse and work her way up from there, but instead she turned the tables on him for a brief moment or so to come up with an answer to that.

"…"

"'Father… The others don't understand. I was afraid to ask because Raine's getting suspicious of me and I wanted to see what it was like being on my own in this strange place and…'"

"Sara." He stopped her from writing, softening his tone of voice a bit. "Why are we journeying?"

"'…To protect the Chosen…'" She wrote hesitantly.

"That's right. And that's exactly why what you did was wrong. Do you understand?"

Sara narrowed her eyes a bit at what her father had asked her, and in response she pushed his hand away and sat up warily, pressing herself against the side of the building. _Sheesh, I'm not a child. Of course I know that…_

"Then don't act like one." Her father barked, glaring at her as he stood up from where he knelt.

"…"

"Colette is our main priority, not your indulgences. If you can't accept that, then you're more than welcome to go back to Welgaia."

_G-go back!? BUT--!!_

Upon hearing these words she stood up from where she sat in protest. How could he say such a thing? Mithos said that he could use her as bait if her father betrayed them! Not that Kratos would for fear of her safety, but just the idea that Mithos would go that low was enough to disgust her. And if she went back to Derris-Kharlan, he'd try to force feed his psychotic ideals down her throat! But wait… no, her father wouldn't stand for that. He wouldn't stand to see her reduced to a mindless follower, the way he had been for thousands of years… would he?

_He's bluffing! He wouldn't dare leave me in that sociopath's care!_

"I'm serious." He added. She was so easy to read to the point where it annoyed her immensely. "And if you're foolish enough to go along with his ideals than that's your own fault."

"'Foolish enough like you?'"

"I've only been serving him for your sake!" He bellowed, tensing up a bit at her accusations.

"'So it IS my fault!'" She scribbled quickly.

"IT'S MY OWN!" He instantly lost his composure, but regretted doing so as he yelled so loud that he could have woken the Professor or the others up unintentionally. Sara didn't have anything to say to that and simply stared absently at her father, noticing the pained expression etched onto his face as he continued in a sharp whisper. "I wasn't strong enough to save your mother. I wasn't strong enough to protect you and your brother. Mithos, he… he would have come after me if I had chosen to run anyway. If I had taken you and made a run for it… if he somehow grabbed you before I could, he would have surely taken you away from me. He would have killed you, don't you understand!?"

He paused for a moment as Sara's eyes fell to the ground. She felt guilty, if anything, for being so self-centered, but still she felt compelled to express how justifiable her side of the story was. Yet after seeing her father's emotional display, and his pain stricken eyes that mirrored the ones from her dreams, she couldn't bring herself to fight back; if anything, she was afraid to look him directly in the eye. And she didn't have to, as he quickly brushed past her on his way back to the inn.

Her wandering eyes followed his towering figure walk past her and stop at the door, though he did not turn to face her. He simply glanced at her over his shoulder, masking his eyes from her view with his auburn bangs. "It's my fault because I wasn't and still am not strong enough... So if this is the only way I can protect you, then that's enough for me; even if it means giving up my thoughts, my ideals…"

"…"

"As long as I have you…"

After leaving their discussion at that, he quietly shut the door behind him, leaving her standing in the middle of the empty street in silence. She wasn't sure why, but she suddenly felt the stinging sensation of tears rush to her eyes. Her cheeks began to flush as she lowered her head in shame, stubbornly gritting her teeth as she refused to show her true emotions, though it wasn't long before she inevitably gave in as a stray tear found its way down trickling her right cheek and resting against in the cusp of her jaw.

She didn't want to admit it, but he was right.

A few more tears found their way down onto her clothes and the street pavement below until she mustered up enough strength to brush them away with her bare wrist.

That night, knowing that her father had no idea she had been forcefully removed from the hotel, she curled up in the same spot she had fallen asleep in prior to being discovered by Noishe and Kratos. She refused to cry any more than she already had and relaxed the tension in her muscles before falling into a deep sleep filled with nightmares of that fateful day.

* * *

_Sara found herself trapped in that reoccurring dream once again, but the scenario was a bit different this time around. She did not picture herself in the arms of her mother, but rather in the arms of someone else—someone vaguely familiar. Her vision was masked by a blur and shortly afterwards she felt a sharp, familiar pain in her legs. She tried to cry out in pain, but found herself trapped in silence. It felt strange and disorienting to her, despite how used to it she was after all these years. It was almost as if she had recently lost her voice for the first time._

_**That's strange… **__She thought to herself. __**I thought I had my voice back then until I was… wait, is that…?**_

_Her vision began to give way as she realized whose arms she was resting in. She instantly caught sight of __her father's vibrant, spiky auburn hair falling over his face after being drenched in the rain. He really hadn't changed after all these years._

"_Sara...? Don't you recognize me? It's me! It's __**daddy**__. Everything's going to be alright, I promise! I promise, I won't let you die…"_

_**Daddy…**_

_She suddenly felt tension in her father's trembling arms as he turned his gaze toward something to the side, yet she felt too weak and weary to shift her weight to spare a glance at whatever, or whoever it was that caught his attention._

_For a brief moment her vision escaped her as she became out of touch with reality. It was almost as if that portion of her memory had been erased somehow and had automatically skipped over to the next place she could vaguely remember._

"_Pledge your allegiance to Cruxis and we can save her together!" Another voice echoed and began to repeatedly replay itself in her mind. "Pledge… Cruxis… Allegiance…"_

_**No…**_

"_We can save her… together."_

_**No, Daddy, don't give in! Please, you can save me yourself! You're strong enough! You are!**_

"_As long as you can save her life…" Her father began. There was nothing she could do, despite her cries of protest. She was merely watching a clip of time that had already passed her by, and she couldn't change it. She felt just as powerless as she had been then._

_**Stop!! Mommy wouldn't want this!!**_

"…_I pledge my allegiance…"_

_**Daddy!!**_

"…_to Cruxis."_

"_As long as you can save her..."_

"_As long as… I have you."_

* * *

Sara awoke with a start the following morning, jerking her head up from its resting place in-between her intertwined arms; though when she focused her vision out of the thoughts that lingered in her head and back into reality, she nearly jumped at the sight of a startled Lloyd kneeling in front of her.

"Geez! You scared the crap out of me!" He laughed nervously, cocking his head to the side as he noticed her distant expression. Her eyes were bloodshot red and it looked at she may have been crying in her sleep. "…Hey, are you okay?"

Sara did not ask for his hand, but rather lowered her gaze and shook her head.

"What happened? We were all really worried about you…" He began softly as she listened intently. He paused for a moment to see if she would respond to him before continuing. "I was planning on sneaking out to help Kratos find you but the Professor stayed up all night, making sure we were in bed and stuff."

_Lloyd…_

"So, I guess you knew we were staying here, huh? Why didn't you come upstairs and let us know you were okay? Come to think of it, why were you sleeping outside? And… ack, what's that smell!?" He clamped his fingers on his nose, glancing around to try and find the source. Sara rolled her eyes at this and chuckled to herself, even though she couldn't exactly emit the sound that goes with it.

"Heh…" He scratched the back of his head nervously, holding a hand out for her as he rose to his feet. "Well, come on in! We're having breakfast now and everyone will be relieved to know that you're okay!"

She stared at his outstretched hand for a brief moment before meeting his gaze with her own.

"What's wrong?" He asked cluelessly.

She slowly grabbed his hand, but not to lift herself up with. "'Aren't you mad that I left?'"

"The Professor is probably cheesed off about it, but I'm not. I'm just glad you're okay!" He replied, adding an innocent, almost childlike grin to top it off. "Colette and Genis will be happy to see that you're alright, and who knows what Kratos is thinking..."

_Heh, I do._

"So, are you coming in or what? My arm's kinda starting to hurt a little." He added humorously. She couldn't help but grin at the purity of her brother—how kind and thoughtful he was. She sort of wished that she could live up to his example, except maybe keep her grades up in school.

With that said, she clasped her hand against his, grateful for his help. She silently followed him inside, nervously anticipating her encounter with the others, especially her father and the Professor. Luckily, that intolerant receptionist was not at her post at the moment.

"Hey guys, I found her!" Lloyd called out from the next room over as if to alert the whole hotel of her reappearance.

When she entered the room after Lloyd, she noticed everyone sitting around a large table as they had gathered for breakfast. There were two empty seats left—one for each of the twins. Sara's attention would have been captivated by the plentiful array of foods had she not been staring nervously at her father and the others, albeit she took note of a plentiful platter of cinnamon buns by the edge of the table.

"Sara, you're okay!" Colette cheered happily, nearly rising from her seat before noticing the Professor's hardened expression across from her.

"You look terrible…" Genis added slowly, surveying her from head to toe. She had almost forgotten how filthy she was after last night.

"Ugh… I can still smell that awful stench in here! Where's it coming from?" Lloyd added thoughtlessly. Everyone but Colette turned to stare at him helplessly, wondering how he could be so utterly dense, although this managed to ease Sara's tension a bit as she couldn't help but snicker.

"Well…" The Professor began stiffly, as all eyes were now on her. "...we're just glad you're okay. Thank you for finding her for us, Lloyd." She gave a simple nod to her pupil, who beamed contently.

"Yeah, you're amazing, Lloyd!" Colette added with a smile.

"Nah, it was nothing. I probably wouldn't have run into her as soon as I did if Kratos hadn't sent me out for some Orange Gels. I could have sworn we bought some yesterday…" Lloyd pondered absently to himself as Kratos cleared his throat.

_Huh…? Father didn't tell them about…_

Out of the corner of her eye, as not to seem too obvious, she glanced at her father as he sipped his tea nonchalantly. Not only did he give her something to think about, but he also let Lloyd be the hero instead of him. She caught herself smiling a bit as she absently turned towards the others, earning distasteful looks from Raine and Genis.

"Uhh, Sara… Would you mind washing up a bit before you join us?" Genis added stiffly, holding his nose.

She flushed with a bit of embarrassment as Lloyd turned towards her, wide-eyed, "What? That's from you!?"

"Lloyd… Come and sit down with us before you hurt yourself." Kratos added humorously, though masked his true emotions behind his stoic composure. Everyone started to laugh at this while Sara dashed up the stairs to wash up, eager to join her friends and family downstairs as soon as she could.

Despite last night and despite how badly she felt about what she did to the others, including her father, she felt light-hearted and thankful that she was with them. Not to mention she was thankful that the Professor went easy on her, but more importantly the fresh batch of cinnamon buns waiting for her down at breakfast!

* * *

"Hey guys, do you mind if we stop at the school I was recommended to attend before we leave for Hakonesia Peak?" Genis asked rather casually at breakfast once everyone, including Sara, was present. He knew his sister wouldn't object if it had anything to do with school or scholarly research.

Before anyone else could answer, Raine answered for the group, "Yes, that sounds like a fascinating idea! I'd love to see the writing utensil exhibit with the pens used to sign the treaty that ended the Kharlan War!"

"…Do we really have time for that?" Lloyd whined, but was instantly met with the Professor's infuriated gaze.

"OF COURSE WE DO!" She bellowed. "Afterwards I can assign each of you a reflection paper on the exhibit!"

"It sounds kinda fun!" Colette added optimistically.

"Aww geez. Nice going, Genis!" Lloyd sighed warily, whacking his best friend across the head.

"OW!"

* * *

"So this is the Palmacosta Academy…" Genis murmured to himself upon entering the foyer of the Academy.

"Hey Genis… are you sad you decided not to use your recommendation after all?" Colette asked thoughtfully.

"Ah…"

"You? Recommended for the Palmacosta Academy!?" A voice called out from atop the stairs. Down came two students in a uniform, a shorter boy to the right and a taller one to the left.

"Nonsense! It took me three tries to pass the exam to get into this school!" The shorter one replied. "How could he possibly have gotten a recommendation!?"

"What'd you say?" Lloyd barked defensively. "Genis is really smart! He can even do his multiplication tables!"

"Erm, thanks Lloyd." Genis added sarcastically as he flushed with embarrassment, noticing that the two boys were laughing at him. "Just because that's seems like such an accomplishment for you doesn't mean the rest of us are that idiotic."

The red clad swordsmen pondered over this as the taller student butt into the conversation once again.

"If you really got a recommendation to come here, then how about we face off to see who the smarter one is? My friend and I will have a professor make up an exam for us, and if you can beat my score than I'll gladly acknowledge your intellect. Oh, and just so you know I'm the best student in the academy so you better give it your all!" He snickered over confidently. "It's not too late to turn back, you know."

"Oh, he'll be there!" Lloyd proudly volunteered Genis to accept the boy's challenge.

"That's easy for you to say!" The smaller half-elf retorted.

"Meet us in an empty classroom in an hour!" The boys added as they quickly dashed upstairs, laughing excessively.

"Don't worry, Genis. We can spend some time reviewing before you take the exam." Raine reassured her little brother.

"I guess…"

* * *

Before the group knew it, they were all sitting at strategically placed desks in an empty classroom, preparing to take the exam—including Kratos, Sara and the Professor herself. Raine said it would be a good opportunity for everyone to see how far their intellect had progressed over the years, much to Lloyd's dismay.

Lloyd and Colette shared a pair of desks in the front row on the left side while Kratos and Sara shared a pair on the right. Raine sat at an empty desk in the center row while Genis and Mighty Washington, the boy he was facing off against, sat on separate sides of the room in the back.

"Okay… begin!" The headmaster replied, starting the timer.

Sara absently glanced down at her paper, wondering how she had gotten herself into such a mess. She didn't particularly care for school, much less tests. Although she wasn't taking a serious exam, she knew her father would be disappointed if she was issued a low score after the extensive training he put her through all these years.

The first section of the test was Math, which she usually did well in, followed by History, Science and Languages. She sighed to herself and reluctantly got started.

* * *

"All right, now that the test scores are in, here are everyone's results starting from the lowest to the highest grades. After we run through those, we'll announce Genis and Mighty's scores." The headmaster began optimistically.

"First we have a… Lloyd Irving with a score of 25." He announced in a flat tone of voice.

"Wow, Lloyd! That's your best yet!" Colette cheered happily.

"Alright!" The brunette swordsman exclaimed.

"…Lloyd, the test is out of 400." The Professor added bluntly as Lloyd reluctantly sat back in his chair with an annoyed facial expression. Sara couldn't help but stifle a chuckle as she saw the exasperated look of horror on her father's face.

"Next we have… Colette Brunel with 250."

"Nice job, Colette.." Lloyd added with a forced smile, as he was obviously still upset over his score.

"Thanks! You too, Lloyd." She congratulated him as well, even though he really didn't deserve it.

"Next is… Sara Langley with 310."

_Phew… if I had gotten any lower, Father would be on my case for sure._

"That's not a bad score, Sara. With a little more practice and if you really put your mind to it, you could try applying for the Academy within a few years." Raine added, rather impressed with her score. Sara smiled weakly at her compliment, noticing the scoffed look on her father's face. After all, Kratos was the best teacher she could ask for. Nevertheless, her father seemed to approve of her score; more so than Lloyd's, anyway.

"Ohhh, so that's your last name." Lloyd added. "I'd been meaning to ask you about it."

_Sadly, Aurion sounds much better._

"Next we have Kratos Aurion with 380."

"Woah!" Lloyd exclaimed.

This didn't seem to faze Sara, in fact she knew he could have scored a solid 400 if he wasn't working undercover, although it humored her to watch her father fidget slightly after hearing his name called.

"And finally we have Professor Raine Sage with 400." The headmaster added, noticing the Professor beam proudly at her perfect score.

"…Like we expected anything but perfection from the Professor." Lloyd muttered under his breath.

"And now for Mighty and Genis' scores." The headmaster proclaimed. "Mighty Washington: 398 and Genis Sage: 400."

"You did it, Genis!" Colette clapped happily.

"Hah! I knew you were smartest!" Lloyd added confidently, almost as if he himself had gotten a perfect score.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Mighty admitted honestly. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before. You should really reconsider your decision not to go here; I think you'd be a valuable asset to the community!"

"I concur." The headmaster added. "We'd love to have you, Mr. Sage."

"Wow, Genis… I-I mean, if you really want to go here then that's great news!" Lloyd added with a forced smile.

"Thank you for offering but I promised my friends I'd help them on their journey, so I'll have to decline for now…"

"Well in that case, here's an acceptance certificate in honor of your achievements. With that, you can come back and study once your journey has been completed." The headmaster replied, handing the smaller half-elf the certificate with pride. "I do hope we get to hear from you soon."

"Thank you very much, Headmaster." Genis beamed happily as everyone clapped for him.

Once everyone had gotten a chance to congratulate him, the party began to make their way down the steps to the foyer when they suddenly heard an ear shattering cry come from outside. Soon, the single cry turned into several screams as the unknown chaos began to spread like wildfire.

Everyone seemed to hold their breaths as if time itself had stopped after picking up these few words from amongst the cries of terror,

"Everybody, run! It's the Desians!!"

* * *

**_I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. AND it took me all day! But I was motivated. And it ends with a Cliffhanger! Whooo!_**

**_Thanks for all of the reviews by the way! Stay tuned! Although I can't guarantee that the next one will be out by tomorrow. Probably by the end of the week or so..._**


	11. Clandestine Thoughts

**Oh, by the way, I know I haven't really paid much attention to Colette yet other than the fact that she basically agrees with everything Lloyd says (which is true in the game), but I'm getting to it, so don't worry! :D**

**Oh, and I know the Palmacosta scene is a bit different in the game but I'm changing it around here, so there.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.**

* * *

"_In the end, we will not remember the worlds of our enemies, but rather the silence of our friends." – Martin Luther King Jr._

* * *

"_Everybody, run! It's the Desians!!"_

Sara nearly held her breath as she watched her companions dash down the stairs before her and gather in the foyer upon hearing this cry. When she realized that she was the only person occupying the steps, she quickly made her way down as well and stood beside Genis and Lloyd. Although they weren't standing in front of a window, she watched out of the corner of her eye through a window off to the side of the people outside in Palma Square scrambling for their children and possessions before taking off towards their homes. The scent of fear was certainly in the air, if not for their livelihoods and offspring then rather for themselves.

"Kratos!" Raine called out, filled with desperation.

"I know." He answered back very calmly, clutching his hand against the hilt of his blade. "They're probably holding a public demonstration of some sort. Nevertheless, get the Chosen somewhere safe! If they discover that she's in the city, we'll all be in grave danger."

"A public demonstration? But doesn't Palmacosta have an army?" Genis inquired.

"It's not uncommon to see a few Desians here and there, roaming the city streets, but if they've come on such a grand scale as it seems, then the army may be out for training exercises." Kratos replied informatively.

_Meaning that they waited for the opportune moment to slip by… _

"Well we can't just let them do whatever the hell the want! We've got to do something or more people are going to get hurt!" Lloyd added as all eyes fell on him.

"Wow Lloyd, you actually understood what we were talking about?" Genis piped obnoxiously, earning a swift glare from the brunette swordsman.

"Out of the question!" Raine interfered, rather quickly. "Are you forgetting what happened in Iselia, Lloyd? You may jeopardize everyone in this city if you interfere! It'll be the same thing all over again, on an even grander scale!"

"No, it's not the same!" Lloyd retorted. "Palmacosta doesn't have a non-aggression treaty with the Desians! This isn't right!"

"Lloyd's right! I can't just sit back and watch these innocent people take the fall, especially if they've come because of me." Colette finally stepped in.

"Colette…" Raine answered breathlessly.

"How can we possibly go on a journey to regenerate the world if we can't even save the people right in front of us?" Lloyd added.

"…"

Sara honestly had no idea what to think as she stood by idly. She also hadn't heard a word from her father about Lloyd's suggestion, which seemed strange to her considering how dire the consequences would be for him if this Chosen was killed as well.

"Please, Professor?" Colette pleaded.

"Well, if I've learned anything from the two of you these past few years it's that Lloyd would dive in head first even without my permission and we would all wind up following him anyway." Raine sighed to herself, noticing grins forming on her student's faces as she reluctantly began to cave in. "So I suppose there's no escaping your fixed resolve and I'd be worried about the two of you if I let you step in by yourselves."

"Enough talk, let's just go! They need us!" Lloyd announced, holding the front door of the Academy open as he ushered everyone outside.

Upon exiting the Academy, Colette and the others skidded to a stop as they watched an overbearing, muscular man kicking around a helpless child.

"That's Magnius, one of the Five Grand Cardinals… What's he doing here?" Kratos murmured to himself, although everyone seemed to pick up on it.

"Stop right there!" Lloyd bellowed, raising his sword as he performed a **Demon Fang**that headed straight for Magnius. It turned out to be a direct hit as Magnius stumbled to the ground from the unexpected injury, allowing the kid a chance to make a run for it.

"Lloyd, wait!" Genis cried out.

"Lord Magnius!" Several of his underlings cried out, running towards him to form a protective barrier around him.

"You s-stupid vermin! K-kill him!" Magnius stuttered, pointing his finger directly at Lloyd.

"Wait a minute… isn't that wanted criminal #0074, Lloyd Irving!?" One of the soldiers called out before anyone could act.

"Mom!!" A voice called out from the crowd of people at the edge of the square, diverting everyone's attention towards it for a moment or two. A girl ran out of the crowd, and as Sara and the others watched her draw closer and closer towards them, they instantly realized who it was.

"Chocolat!" Colette called out. "Don't come over here! It's not safe!"

"Halt, woman!" A purple-garbed Desian soldier stepped before her, blocking Chocolat's path forward with his spear. "If you interfere, we'll make you suffer in ways that will leave you _begging_ for death!"

"Well, well, if it isn't Chocolat." One of the soldiers off on the sidelines acknowledged, drawing away the crowd's attention. "You have some nerve to be showing yourself here. If you had been a good little girl like your mother told you to be, we wouldn't be forced to take such drastic measures..."

"I won't let you hurt my Mom!" She cried out, almost as if she herself was in pain. "You don't scare me!!"

Sara stood by idly, wondering why Chocolat would even think of interfering after what had happened last night, until she caught a glimpse of the girl's mother Cacao bound and tied by a noose atop a wooden platform out of the corner of her eye. She instantly tugged on the clothing on Colette's arm and pointed to the unfolding scene off to the side, quickly capturing everyone else's attention as well.

"Oh no!"

"Do you Desians honestly think that Dorr will let you get away with this!?" Chocolat added.

"Dorr? Hah! Don't get your hopes up, woman!" Magnius answered for her, warily rising to his feet as his guards dispersed. "Now, enough of this! Get them, you fools! And make sure you get the boy's Exsphere! I'll take care of the woman!"

After Magnius staggered his way over towards the hanging platform, five Desians began to charge toward the Regeneration group. Kratos instantly took a defensive stance in front of Colette, followed by Lloyd and Sara on either side of him. Genis stood behind, preparing his most devastating spells, while Raine and Colette stood armed and ready just in case their offense couldn't hold out.

Meanwhile, Magnius began to laugh maniacally as he quickly threw the switch, releasing the trap door beneath Cacao's feet. Thankfully she didn't break her neck instantly, though she would inevitably be killed if she stayed suspended in that position much longer. Colette noticed this happening from the sidelines and quickly threw one of her chakrams, snapping the rope that bound Cacao's neck. Chocolat took this opportunity to effortlessly slip past the Desians blocking her way, sliding on her hands and knees to her mother's side as she helped to untie her binds.

"What the—!?" Magnius replied, dumbfounded.

Kratos, Lloyd, Sara and Genis effortlessly took out the soldiers that came their way as they lead the party forward towards Magnius. Along the way, more and more soldiers came at them; though at the same time fell simultaneously.

Lloyd and Kratos used **Demon Fang **repeatedly to knock them off their feet before they could advance any closer while Genis casted **Spread**, washing away three approaching soldiers heading straight for Colette. Sara, defeating her enemies with close-range combat, was busy defending herself from frontal and attacks that came from behind. She quickly jabbed a soldier approaching her line of vision with a **Spark Uppercut** followed by a **Spin Kick** towards two approaching soldiers from behind. Raine casted a **Barrier** around their offense to try and hold out as long as they could while Colette unleashed her vibrant, magenta-colored wings, preparing to cast **Angel Feathers**.

"Wings!?" One of the Desian soldiers stationed at Magnius' side proclaimed, watching Colette cast a devastating blow to their outer defensive line. "Then that must be…"

"An angel?" Someone from the crowd inquired aloud.

"It's the Chosen!" Another answered. "The Chosen of Mana and her companions have come to our aid!"

"Thank Martel!"

"We have to help them!" Chocolat added towards the people who were idly watching on the sidelines.

"But what can we do? We aren't soldiers or warriors!" A man from the crowd replied, receiving several nods and acknowledgements.

"But they're fighting for us! We can't just leave them to defend us by themselves!" She replied, picking up a nearby rock and tossing it into the air before it landed back in her palm. "We gotta do what we can!"

"She's right! We're not going to let Palmacosta become the next Iselia, are we?" A rather heavyset woman from the crowd emerged in front of everyone, holding a large rolling pin in her grasp.

"No way!"

"Let's do it!"

After rallying enough support and sending them on their way, Chocolat turned towards the battlefield unfolding before her, noticing that the Chosen and her companions were growing weary as several reinforcements had come to the Desians aid. Her attention quickly drew away from grander scale perspective of the battle and towards Sara, who had previously saved her from the Desians the night before, struggling to keep up her defense, especially within her 'blind spots.'

Chocolat quickly recoiled her arm before projecting the large rock in her hands toward a soldier who was about to sneak up on one of Sara's blind spots, knocking him out instantaneously as it collided with his helmet. Sara noticed him mysteriously fall to the ground after taking out a soldier from within her line of vision and turned towards Chocolat, who waved excitedly towards her former rescuer.

"I owed you one, didn't I?" She called out with a huge grin plastered on her face.

Sara smirked back at her and held up her index and middle finger simultaneously towards the brown-haired shopkeeper's daughter.

_You owed me twice, actually! _Was what she would have said.

Chocolat merely responded to this by hurtling another rock through the air that narrowly missed Sara's cranium towards another Desian that was about to sneak up on the Seraph's daughter from behind. Sara alertly turned her attention back towards the ensuing battle as Chocolat called out to her one last time, "We're even now!"

Sara merely smirked at this comment as she jabbed her fist through another soldier's stomach, too involved in the battle itself to thank Chocolat properly and vice versa.

Before long, Magnius came face to face with Kratos Aurion, who he instantly recognized as Lord Yggdrasill's right-hand man.

"…Let us respect the wishes of the Chosen!" The Seraph proclaimed; his eyes darkly fixated upon his 'underling.'

"Damn it! Retreat for now!" Magnius bellowed toward the remaining survivors.

"Retreat!" Another soldier proclaimed as he and his comrades attempted to weave their way out of the protesting crowds of people who greatly outnumbered them. Most of the retreating survivors managed to flee the city, including Magnius.

"So that girl really is the Chosen…" Someone from the dispersed crowd replied, responding to Kratos' previous comment.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, Colette and the others gathered in the Chocolat's room on the second floor above their shop. Cacao was there as well, who graciously bowed before Colette and her companions in thanks.

"Chosen One, thank you so much for saving my mom!" Chocolat added. "I don't know what I would have done if they had murdered her as well…"

"As well?" Genis asked.

"My husband volunteered in Governor-General Dorr's army, and was killed in a battle against the Desians. And my mother… was taken to the ranch." Cacao admitted painfully.

"It was Grandma who had originally founded this shop. We have to protect it, not just for ourselves but for Grandma as well, for when she returns!" Chocolat added with a fierce look of determination in her eyes. Sara, who was sitting at the edge of Chocolat's bed, instantly noticed the girl's gaze meet her own as she continued, "And you… I know we're even and all, but thanks again for last night."

Sara flushed a bit, though shook it off as if it were nothing with a smile. That is, until Kratos intervened.

"What exactly happened last night?" He asked out of 'pure curiosity.' Sara's gut suddenly fell upon hearing these words as she nervously turned to meet her father's hardened gaze.

"Nothing important." Chocolat added casually. "Anyway, I better be off to work! It's almost time for the next Asgard Pilgrimage!"

"Asgard Pilgrimage?" Lloyd asked aloud.

"Yeah! I work as a tour guide at the Church of Martel Travel Agency, but it's not like I actually believe in Martel or anything…" She murmured uncomfortably, noticing Cacao's hardened gaze fall upon her daughter.

"Chocolat! How can you say such a thing!"

"I know, I know… I'm grateful to have the Chosen, but Martel didn't protect Dad or Grandma! Even this time, it wasn't Martel, but the Chosen and her companions that saved Mom. How can anyone believe in a goddess that sleeps while we suffer?" Chocolat questioned aloud, as if expecting a sign of some sort from the Goddess herself.

"I understand what you're saying Chocolat, but I still think Martel exists." Colette intervened.

_Of course she would, after all she __**is**__ the Chosen._ Sara thought silently to herself. _If only she knew how much of a lie all of it was… I'm sure Father is probably thinking the same thing right about now._

Her gaze instantly shifted towards her father, who was predictably hidden behind his cold, stoic disposition, making his thoughts nearly impossible for her to read. Unfortunately, Sara was the exact opposite of him, as everything she felt was written on her face for everyone to read.

"You think?"

"Yes. She exists inside you and me."

"Well… if the Chosen says so, then I guess it must be true." Chocolat admitted, rather reluctantly.

"By the way, are there really people who want to go on a trip after what just happened?" Lloyd abruptly changed the subject.

"It's after events like these that those with and without faith feel the need to go on a journey in search of salvation." Kratos added rather softly, which Sara took note of.

_Come to think of it, I haven't really been monitoring father's attitude towards Lloyd at all. What he said just now sounded almost uncharacteristically gentle of him. Then again, he's often been that way around me, too… right?_

Sara began to shift uncomfortably, hesitantly glancing at Lloyd who stared up at _their _father, fascinated by and interested in what he had to say. It was almost as if Kratos spoke a language only he could understand. Then she glanced over at her father, who was too cautious to forsake his stoic façade for a precious moment with his long-lost son; yet only Sara and Lloyd could really see the gentleness in his eyes and the warm, underlying tone of his voice. It was a side of him that was only meant for the two of them to see, even if one of them didn't realize it right away. And right now, that side of him was exclusively being shown to Lloyd. Had he always been like this around her brother? Was she always just too busy to notice? Was she… well, a little jealous?

_Of course not! No. How could that thought even cross my mind? Father just saw Lloyd for the first time two weeks ago, of course he'd act this way! I'm happy for them. I want them to spend time together… So why does it still hurt so much?_

Sara broke her hardened gaze that had been directed towards her father and brother and absently began to stare down at the floor, tuning out the rest of the world for a bit. Maybe she really did feel this way…

_Well, maybe. J-just a little…_

"Well, that pretty much sums it up. Thanks again, you guys!" Chocolat cheered happily before leaving for work, followed by Cacao who went back downstairs to resume a normal day's worth of work.

"We should get going, ourselves." Kratos directed towards the rest of the group.

"It's finally time to go to Hakonesia Peak! I can't wait!" Lloyd announced excitedly, leading the group down to the first floor of Marble's and out of the store. Kratos followed closely behind his son.

"We only stayed for one night, Lloyd! Don't tell me you're bored of Palmacosta already!" Genis added humorously.

"Well…" The brunette swordsman began, absently scratching the back of his head.

"Some things never change." The Professor added with a chuckle.

Genis and Colette followed Raine out of the store and Sara brought up the rear, trailing behind as she often did; but this time it wasn't to explore the world around her and get into trouble. Instead, she kept her lowered gaze frozen on Kratos and Lloyd.

She carefully took note of everything that went on between the two of them—anything they said, any sort of physical contact, even any facial expressions that would so much as give a _hint _of affection. She stayed this way even as they left the city, even when Colette asked her if she was alright and whether or not she wanted to walk beside her and Genis. She would simply smile and nod, the way she always hid her true feelings from Mithos, and go along with whatever it is that they asked of her while clandestinely keeping a watchful eye on the two swordsmen.

* * *

**_Mwahahaha. ;) Oh, I went there. I'm eeeeeeeeevil. Or maybe it's just the Halloween Oreo's I've been eating. :O They have orange filling instead of white! AMAZING, NO? Ahh, the wonders of food coloring..._**

**_Errr... My bad. XD I don't know why I went there just now. Anyways, I'm actually going to skip over a small frame of time in the next one, just so you know. It's necessary though._**

EDITTED: 9/24/08 for minor grammatical errors.


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